US Dollar Stays Higher In Quiet Markets
On Tuesday, the greenback showed continued strength against other major currencies, continuing to rise after deep losses that came in the wake of a perturbing US employment report on Friday. The US dollar index rose 0.60{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} to trade at 97.79, while EUR/USD fell by 0.65{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} to change hands at 1.0850.
fx charting
Dollar’s gains reverse selling pressure late last week
Previously, the US dollar had fallen in the wake of a report from the US Labor Department that showed that the US economy only added 126,000 jobs last month, less than 50{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} of the gains seen the previous month and the poorest rise since the end of 2013. The report cast doubts on the continued robustness of the US economic rebound, with investors now anticipating that any rise in rates by the Federal Reserve will come at the end of 2015, as opposed to midyear.
Eurozone purchasing manager’s index drops
Part of the weakness in the euro was due to a negative report from Markit, a leading research group. The report indicated that the services purchasing managers index in the eurozone fell to 54.2 in March, down from a reading of 54.3 the previous month. Analysts had anticipated that the index would not move from month-to-month.
On slightly more positive news, the German services PMI held its own in March, rising 0.1{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} to 55.4 compared to February’s reading of 55.3. Again, analysts had expected the index to stay the same. However, the news was less positive out of France. There, the services PMI dropped from 52.8 in February to a reading of 52.4 in March. As in Germany, analysts had expected that the index would stay the same.
UK services sector grows
In Britain, the UK’s services PMI expanded to 58.9 in March, a significant increase from the reading of 56.7 seen the previous month. However, despite the positive services news compared to the rest of Europe, the pound remained largely unchanged, with GBP/USD trading at 1.4886. The increase in the services PMI was the strongest seen in the last seven months, and bested analyst expectations that the number would only rise 0.3{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} to 57.0.
Australian dollar rises
One of the bright spots in today’s forex trading was the Australian dollar, with AUD/USD trading up at 0.7639, a rise of 0.62{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6}. The Aussie dollar was boosted by a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that retail sales in Australia climbed by 0.7{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} in February, confounding analysts’ estimates of a 0.4{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} gain. Data for the previous month was also revised upwards, with the new reading coming in at 0.5{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} compared to previous estimates that retail sales had only risen 0.4{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6}. Finally, the Reserve Bank of Australia maintained its interest rates at 2.25{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} on Tuesday, although this decision had been widely expected.
The post US Dollar Stays Higher In Quiet Markets, Is It The Calm Before The Storm? appeared first on Forex Signals Provider.
SOURCE: Forex Signals Provider – Read entire story here.
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