It’s usually inflation that disappoints and employment that shines in the US. However, this time we have a better than expected core PPI at +0.3% m/m while jobless claims disappointed with a leap to 316K. Fresh manufacturing data for 2015 is positive, with the Empire State Manufacturing Index jumping to 10 points, double the expectations.
The dollar is slightly stronger against the pound and the yen. The euro is looking to Switzerland today and not too much to the United States.
More data: Year over year PPI is up 1.1%, better than 1% expected. Core PPI is up 2.1% y/y, also better than 1.9% predicted. The four week moving average rose to 298K from 291.25K beforehand. Continuing claims stand at 2.42 million after 2.475 million beforehand. Regarding the Empire State Index, we have the unemployment component rise to 13.68 points and new orders up to 6.06 points. Even prices are up.
US jobless claims were expected to rise to 299K after 294K seen last week. PPI was expected to slide 0.3% month over month, while core PPI was expected to rise 0.2% in December. The Empire State Manufacturing Index for January 2015Â was forecast to get back to positive territory and rise to 5.3 points from -3.6 points in December.
The dollar has been gaining against the euro but falling against all the rest in a very dramatic day in currency markets: a day that saw the SNB remove the floor of 1.20 under EUR/CHF. The franc jumped thousands of pips and EUR/USD lost 1.17.
We later have the Phily Fed Price Index.
Tomorrow we have the consumer confidence figure from the University of Michigan. Here is how to trade this figure with EUR/USD.
