EUR/USD jumped today, following the two-session decline, as US politicians worked out a bill that allows avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff. The news boosted almost all currencies, except for safer ones like the US dollar and the Japanese yen. As for US fundamentals, it looks like the manufacturing sector emerged from the brief contraction period, while construction spending unexpectedly declined.

ISM manufacturing PMI rose from 49.5% in November to 50.7% in December, rising above the neutral 50.0 level. Analysts have expected a modest increase to 50.2%. (Event A on the chart.)

Construction spending dropped 0.3% in November from October. The drop was completely surprising as market participants have anticipated a 0.6% rise. Moreover, the October reading of 1.4% was revised negatively to 0.7%. (Event A on the chart.)

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