Morning economic data in the form of housing starts showed a sharp increase but this was mainly attributed to an erratic month-to-month decline in multi-family housing starts. Housing starts declined 8.5% MoM to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890 000 in January from a revised higher 973 000 in December. Building permits on the other hand showed a nominal 1.8% MoM increase to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 925 000 from 909 000 last month. Early in the day precious metals and commodities as a whole sold off sharply with palladium reaching a low of -4.2%. The ...