Today’s Unemployment Claims in the USA were much better than expected – 492,000. It showed a significant drop from the numbers in the past few weeks, always above 550,000.
It was also much better the Forex market’s expectations that were at 575K. This surprise is a sweet candy just before  New Years.
This figure send the dollar upwards: it gained against the Euro: EUR/USD at 1.3903. The Japanese Yen weakened slightly to 90.65 (USD/JPY), and the USD/CHF rose to 1.0670 – the biggest jump in all majors.
Only the British pound reacted differently. This “against the stream†behavior happened in the last days when we saw a the pound lose a lot of value against everybody, when the dollar fell.
It seems that when the USD strengthens – the GBP strengthens even more, and when the USD weakens, the GBP wekaens even more.
GBP/USD is currently at 1.4610.
Many Forex traders will keep their eyes open for Jean Claude Trichet’s speech later on. Although it comes when most forex traders will be celebrating, his speech could hint the direction of the Euro.
Happy New Year!
