The dollar gained on the euro today as US industrial production expanded, beating specialists’ estimates. The greenback rallied even though other reports were not particularly good. This week, the Federal Reserve will hold the last policy meeting for this year, which should be rather important for the US currency and the Forex market as a whole.
NY Empire State Index demonstrated a sharp drop from 10.2 in November to -3.6 in December, frustrating analysts who counted on increase to 12.1. It was the first negative reading in almost two years. (Event A on the chart.)
Both industrial production and capacity utilization grew in November. Industrial output rose 1.3% compared to the median forecast of 0.8%. What is more, the previous month’s reading was revised positively from -0.1% to 0.1%. Capacity utilization rate increased from the revised value of 79.3% in October to 80.1% in November, beating the forecast of 79.4%. (Event B on the chart.)
Net foreign purchases were at -$1.4 billion in October. The actual figure was nowhere near the predicted $72.8 billion and the September’s $164.3 billion. (Event C on the chart.)
On Friday (December 12), a report on PPI was released, showing a drop by 0.2% in November. This is compared to the increase at the same rate in October and the predicted decline by 0.1%. (Not show on the chart.)
Also on Friday, a preliminary estimate of Michigan Sentiment Index was released, showing an improvement of the gauge from 88.8 in November to 93.8 in December. The reading exceeded the forecast value of 89.6. (Not shown on the chart.)
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