US durable goods orders hardly changed, as expected: the wide headline figure rose by 0.1% within expectations. Core durable goods orders actually disappointed with a drop of 0.1%, contrary to expectations for a rise of 1.1%.
Nevertheless, the US dollar used this opportunity to recover some of the losses seen earlier. Was the market front running worse than expected numbers?
EUR/USD struggling with 1.35 once again, after making a nice move above this line earlier in the day. It already dropped to a low of 1.3461. USD/JPY is back to 98.65, climbing from lower levels of 98.40 seen before the publication.
It’s hard to say that the dollar is on the rise, but its bleeding stopped. The debt ceiling and budget issue are both weighing on the US dollar. In addition, the “Octaper†doesn’t seem so close at the moment.
A more significant figure is awaiting forex markets later on: new home sales. The figure plunged to an annualized level of 394K in July, after quite a few strong months. A recovery is expected now.
Update: new home sales stand at 421K.
