EUR/USD was down today as Greece’s problems continued to hurt market sentiment, while concerns about potential exit of the country from the eurozone grew too. The currency pair reversed its trend in the second half of the trading session and was rising, but remained below the opening level. Economic data from the United States was very good and continued to prove that the US economy is recovering. Even the Producer Price Index, while being below forecast, was better than in the preceding month.
Housing starts and building permits rose in January. Housing start were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 699k, above the forecast of 680k and the previous reading of 689k. Building permits were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 676k, above the December value of 671k and matching the median forecast. (Event A on the chart.)
PPI ticked up 0.1% in January, being below the analysts’ estimate of 0.3%, but still better compared to the December decrease by 0.1%. (Event A on the chart.)
Initial jobless claims fell from 361k to 348k last week, a pleasant surprise for traders who anticipated an increase to 364k. (Event A on the chart.)
Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose from 7.3 in January to 10.2 in February, the highest level since October. The report indicated that manufacturers remained optimistic about future growth. (Event B on the chart.)
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