EUR/USD rose intraday but has lost its gains by now and is trading below the opening level. One of the possible reasons for the pair’s retreat was supportive US macroeconomic data. Among positive reports were core retail sales, which rallied by 0.7% last month versus the predicted increase of 0.5%.
Headline retail sales rose by 0.3% in December, matching analysts’ forecasts. The November increase got a positive revision from 0.2% to 0.3% as well. (Event A on the chart.)
Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index jumped from the revised reading of 2.4 in December to 17.0 in January, far above the analysts’ median forecast of 3.7. (Event A on the chart.)
Import and export prices were moving in different directions in December. Import prices rose by 0.3%, matching expectations, after increasing by 0.1% in November. At the same time, export prices fell by 0.2% following the increase at the same rate in the preceding month. (Event A on the chart.)
Initial jobless claims fell to 204k last week, seasonally adjusted, down from the previous week’s unrevised level of 214k, whereas analysts had predicted an increase to 217k. (Event A on the chart.)
Business inventories shrank by 0.2% in November from October, exceeding the forecast decrease of 0.1%. The inventories edged up by 0.1% in October. (Event B on the chart.)
Net foreign purchases were at $22.9 billion in November. That is a lower value than $34.5 billion predicted by economists and $31.5 billion logged in the previous month. (Event C on the chart.)
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