No material improvement in US jobless claims. While they remain under 300K, they haven’t fallen. 295K is the number this week. Continued claims rose to 2.325 million. The four week moving average ticks up to 284.5K.
The US dollar is slightly weaker. Update: USD is moving up a bit now – quite a mixed reaction.
The weekly jobless claims figure was expected to stand on 288K, after rising to 294K last week (before revisions)
In the hours before the release, the greenback began retreating once again, erasing the gains seen yesterday, especially against the euro and the pound. Against the others the reaction was more mixed.
- EUR/USD traded around 1.0770, hit early by weak data and boosted later by optimism on Greece.
- GBP/USD traded above 1.50, after suffering poor retail sales earlier.
- USD/JPY above 120.
- AUD/USD was around 0.7720
- USD/CAD at 1.2230
- NZD/USD around 0.7550.
Existing home sales rose more than expected in March, and gave the dollar the drive forward. But markets’ moods change often.
Later today we have the flash manufacturing PMI from Markit and new home sales. And tomorrow we get durable goods orders, which have been extremely disappointing in recent months.
More: EUR/USD: USD To Strike Back – Nordea
