EUR/USD was sliding today before the macroeconomic reports from the US were released. The reports showed that US economic growth was slower than estimated, allowing the euro to strengthen a little. EUR/USD now trades almost flat at 1.3502 after jumping as high as 1.3570.
Building permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 562k in January, almost at the predicted value of 570k and below the revised December rate of 627k. Building permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 596k in January, above the forecast value of 550k and the revised December estimate of 520k.
PPI rose 0.8% in January, seasonally adjusted, following the increase of 0.9% in December. The analysts predicted the growth to remain at the December rate (0.9%).
Industrial production and capacity utilization slowed in January and were below forecasts. Industrial production decreased 0.1% in January 2011 having risen 1.2% in December. It was predicted to rise 0.5%. Capacity utilization rate edged down from 76.2% to 76.1%. Forecasts suggested the 76.4% rate.
Crude oil inventories increased by 0.9 million barrels and total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.2 million barrels last week. Both are above the upper limit of the average range.
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