ISM Manufacturing PMI disappoints with 53.7 points in March. This is a smaller than expected rise. The ISM Manufacturing PMI was expected to rise to 54.2 points in March after 53.2 in February. This is the first important hint towards the official Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday. The employment component is of special interest and it disappointed with a score of only 51.1 points, the lowest since June.
Before the release, currencies were going in different directions: EUR/USD flirted with 1.38, GBP/USD was under 1.6650 and USD/JPY climbed above 103.40. The dollar is marginally stronger against the euro and the yen, despite the slight disappointment.
Earlier, Markit’s final Manufacturing PMI for March was left unchanged at 55.5 points. The manufacturing sector is small in the US, but it still carries weight. A score above 50 reflects growth.
At the same time, construction spending was released, and it was predicted to rise 0.2% after 0.1% beforehand but the actual result was a rise of 0.1%. IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism was also forecast to advance, from 45.1 to 46.3 points but actually rose to 48 points.
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