Housing permits, which project future building, fell by 7.8%, the largest drop this decade.
Rising stock prices, falling applications for unemployment benefits and a gain in housing permits drove the index higher.
The index benefitted also from the interest rate spread and rising housing permits.
Housing permits rose in January to their highest level since mid-2008.
Yield-curve critics say there are better leading indicators for a recession, such as housing permits (which tend to peak 17 months before the recession starts) and consumer confidence (which dips 3 to 9 months ahead of a downturn).
Tuesday brings April housing starts and permits and the April Producer Price Index (PPI).
The Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders continues to make new post-recession highs, while building permits and housing starts are markedly increasing.
Furthermore, rising housing starts and building permits in the U.S. should help the market, the bank continued.
Last Wednesday, we learned that housing starts and building permits for new home construction posted unexpected declines.
Tuesday will feature July housing starts and building permits, July industrial production and capacity utilization, and July import and export prices.
In the US, investors await data on building permits and housing starts, which is to be released before the start of trading.
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U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes housing starts and building permits data, the weekly jobless claims report and the Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey.
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Tuesday will feature August housing starts and building permits.
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Building permits, a leading indicator of housing starts, also declined by about 9.9%, almost matching the 10% declines in April.
Housing Minister Deputy Dave Jones said he favoured employment permits.
Elsewhere, the housing market was buoyed in November by low mortgage rates, with housing starts rising 4.5%, but building permits, which are seen as an indicator of future activity, slipped 5.4%.
Housing is stabilizing with a gradual decline in inventory of unsold homes and single family permits up 21.7%.
But housing is scarce throughout the hurricane-damaged South, and FEMA officials say getting land and permits to place new trailers is taking time.
And while overall housing starts were up in March, single-family home starts fell 5.0%, and permits for futures starts fell 3.9%.
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