Good news from the US: the economy grew 3.5% in Q3, slightly better than expected. Government spending rises 4.6%, the highest since Q2 2009. Consumer spending is 1.8%, business investment +5.5%, exports 7.8. The GDP price index is at 1.3%, a bit lower than 1.4% expected. Â In addition, jobless claims remained low at 287K with the moving average at 281K.
The greenback advances with EUR/USD dipping below 1.2550, but the dollar then retreats, probably on the internals of the report.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak soon, but she will not necessarily speak bout monetary policy. Markets are digesting the report.
US GDP growth was expected to rise by an annual level of 3.1% in the first read for Q3 2014. There are two more revisions. The economy grew at 4.6% in Q2 after a contraction of 2.1 in Q1. Yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was bullish on US economic indicators, and this led us to suspect that GDP is positive.
The dollar was stronger towards the publication, still riding on the hawkish Fed decision: EUR/USD traded around 1.2580, GBP/USD around 1.5980, USD/JPY around 109.90, AUD/USD at 0.8776 and USD/CAD just under 1.12 –
The Fed acknowledged “solid job gains†and saw underutilization as “gradually diminishingâ€. Also the view about falling inflation was relatively positive and there was only one dovish dissenter and not two hawkish ones like last time.
Similar to Secretary Lew, the Fed probably had the GDP numbers.
