EUR/USD Slides as FOMC Starts Meeting

EUR/USD dropped today after closing almost flat yesterday. The Federal Open Market Committee has started its two-day monetary policy meeting. Forex market participants speculate if the Committee will continue reducing monetary stimulus or not. Today’s data was not helpful for such speculations as some of reports were good, some were bad, giving no clear picture of the US economic health.
Durable goods orders dropped 4.3% in December. That is compared to the predicted increase by 1.9% and the November’s 3.4% growth. (Event A on the chart.)
S&P/Case-Shiller home price index was at 165.80 in November, rising 13.7% on an annual basis, in line with forecasts, after advancing 13.6% in the previous month. The index was down 0.06% on a monthly basis. (Event B on the chart.)
Richmond Fed manufacturing index slipped by one point to 12 in January, while traders have hoped it would stay at 13 as in December. (Event C on the chart.)
Consumer confidence climbed from 77.5 in December (revised downwardly from 78.1) to 80.7 in January. The consensus forecasts was at 78.3. (Event C on the chart.)
Yesterday, a report on new home sales was released, showing a drop from revised 445k (464k before the revision) to 414k in December, while analysts have predicted an increase to 457k. (Not shown on the chart.)


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