Lower gasoline prices don’t cut it for US consumers. Consumer confidence fell short of predictions with a drop to 91.2 points.
The dollar only pauses its rally:Â For example:Â EUR/USD ticked up in the immediate aftermath, climbing from 1.0530 to 1.0538Â before sliding to 1.0513. The low of 1.0494 awaits the pair.
More data: current conditions slide to 103 points, below the previous 106.9 points and below expectations. And speaking of expectations, we had a fall from 88 to 83.7 points. This is the preliminary number and could still change.
The consumer confidence indicator by the University of Michigan and Reuters carried expectations for scoring 95.6 points in March in the preliminary reading. The final read for February was quite similar: 95.4, so a big change was not on the cards.
The US dollar was enjoying a fresh wave of rises towards the publication:
Here is the preview: trading the UoM confidence with EUR/USD.
- EUR/USD fell sharply to 1.0540, towards the lower end of the range. Many expect parity.
- GBP/USD extended its falls after losing 1.48 and reached 1.4720.
- USD/JPY traded around 121.50.
- USD/CAD was up to 1.2770, despite an OK jobs report.
- AUD/USD traded around 0.7640
- NZD/USD was at about 0.7330.
Earlier, the US published the producer price index for February, and they showed a m/m decline of 0.5% in both headline and core numbers. Also the y/y figures fell short.
In our latest podcast, we discuss QE: Who got it right, Krugman or the Gold bugs?
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