Housing starts down last month

U.S. housing starts dropped 11.4% in October, erasing a big gain the month before, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

The decline was the biggest monthly drop since January 1994, and the pace was the lowest since April.

Groundbreaking for new homes slid to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.603 million units last month, down from a revised 1.810 million rate in September. But building permits, an indication of builder confidence, rose 1.7% to 1.763 million units, up from 1.733 million units in September.