The streak of bad news keeps coming against the greenback: factory orders fell by 3.4% in December. In addition, November’s number was revised to the downside: a fall of 1.7% instead of 0.7% originally reported. The revisions to durable goods orders are only marginal: a fall of 3.3% instead of 3.4% initially reported. Durable excluding defense and air fell only 0.1% instead of 0.6%. This is not comforting enough.
The greenback remains on the back foot.
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- EUR/USD is trading just under 1.1440. The common currency enjoyed some optimism from Greece earlier in the day.
- GBP/USD is topping 1.51: the construction PMI in the UK beat expectations and joined a good manufacturing PMI yesterday.
- USD/CAD is tackling the 1.25 line. Rebounding oil prices are currently beating lower demand in Canada’s southern neighbor.
- AUD/USD continues its gradual recovery and tops 0.77: it was hit hard earlier in the day by the RBA cut.
US factory orders were expected to fall by 1.8% in December after a fall of 0.7% in November (before revisions). A revision of the very disappointing durable goods orders is also due.
The US dollar was on the back foot, especially against the euro.
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