EUR/USD jumped today as Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for European countries surprised traders positively, while US data trailed expectations. The currency pair traded in a range during previous sessions of this trading week. The week was extremely poor on economic reports from the United States, while the next week should provide traders several important events, including GDP data and Federal Reserve policy decision.
Initial jobless claims was at 326k last week. It was just a little bit higher that previous week’s 325k, but significantly below the expectations of 331k. (Event A on the chart.)
Existing home sales increased to the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.87 million in December from downwardly revised 4.82 million in November. The reading was still below the market expectations of 4.94 million. (Event B on the chart.)
Leading indicators rose 0.1% in December after rising 1.0% in the preceding month. The actual value was somewhat lower than the forecast of 0.2%. (Event C on the chart.)
Crude oil inventories increased by 1.0 million barrels last week and are in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. This is compared to the forecast increase of 0.7 million and the previous week’s drop by 7.7 million. Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 2.1 million barrels and are well above the upper limit of the average range. (Event C on the chart.)
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