EUR/USD fell today, extending its drop for the fifth consecutive trading session. The currency pair paused its slide after the release of European Central Bank’s policy minutes even though the notes were very dovish. (Event A on the chart.) Meanwhile, US data was relatively positive with the unexpected drop of jobless claims and the small improvement of the manufacturing sector. The only downside was the decline of leading indicators.
Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index improved from -3.5 to -2.8 in February. The indicator was close to analysts’ forecasts. (Event B on the chart.)
Initial jobless claims fell to the seasonally adjusted figure of 262k last week from 269k the week before instead of rising to 275k as was predicted by specialists. (Event B on the chart.)
Leading indicators fell 0.2% in January. It was a slightly better reading that the December’s revised drop of 0.3% and worse than the forecast decrease of just 0.1%. (Event C on the chart.)
US crude oil inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels last week. While the increase was smaller than the predicted 3.2 million, the report said that the reserves were “at historically high levels for this time of year.” The stockpiles decreased by 0.8 million the week before. Total motor gasoline inventories climbed by 3.0 million and were well above the upper limit of the average range. (Event D on the chart.)
If you have any comments on the recent EUR/USD action, please reply using the form below.
