Weekly unemployment claims in the US are at 377K. 371K was expected. Last week’s figure was revised from 352K to 356K – it’s still very low. The numbers are in line with early expecations. The moving average continues edging lower.
Durable goods orders came out better than expected. Durable Goods Orders rose by 3%, while a rise of 2.1% was expected. Core orders, jumped by 2.1%, significantly better than 0.9% that was predicted.
The dollar continues retreating after this data, although the reaction isn’t huge. Risk is on, even though the numbers weaken the case for QE3.
Also last month’s durable goods orders numbers were revised to the upside, making the fresh rises even more meaningful
The dollar is on the defense after Bernanke’s extended low rates commitment: interest rates will likely remain near zero until late 2014. Openness towards a third round of QE in the press conference exacerbated the situation of the dollar.
Later in the US, New Home Sales are expected to tick up to an annual pace of 321K (published at 15:00 GMT). The housing market is the key for more quantitative easing.
