US weekly unemployment claims rose to 320K. They were expected to bounce back to 327K after 315K last week (before revisions). The drop to 315K was surprising and came after quite a long period of stagnation in the figures in the 330Ks. The 4 week moving average slides to 327K. Continued claims are at 2.889 milloin, around previous levels. All in all, this is positive data, but not a huge surprise.
The US dollar was on a tear following the FOMC decision: EUR/USD traded around 1.377, GBP/USD at 1.6505 and USD/JPY at 102.40. GBP/USD now loses the 1.65 line.
The slightly better than expected release broke cable’s back: the pair was trading just above 1.65 in the hours before the publication and this was the opportunity to break down. The low is 1.6485 and the pair struggles to retake 1.65.
Here is the cable chart:
Big moves were also seen in the Australian and Canadian dollars. AUD/USD dropped below 0.90 before recovering and USD/CAD is trading around 1.1270 at multi-year highs.
There are two more important publications that are released simultaneously today: existing home sales and the Philly Fed manufacturing indicator.
Analysis:Â 5 reasons for USD rally on the Fed decision
