Good and bad news from the US: durable goods orders rose by 2.6% and core orders by 2%. The rise in the core figure is a big positive surprise. However, weekly jobless claims jumped to 329K. At least continuing claims fell to 2.68 million. US weekly jobless claims were expected to stand at 310K. They stood on a low level of 304K last week (before revisions). Durable goods orders were expected to rise by 2% in March after 2.2% in February (before revisions). Core orders carried expectations for an advance of 0.6% after 0.1% beforehand. The rise in core orders is the strongest since January 2013.
Before the publication, EURUSD traded around 1,2825, GBP/USD was under 1.68 and UDS/JPY under 102.50. The US dollar is stronger against the yen and stable against most other currencies.
Yesterday, new home sales badly disappointed with an annual level of 384K, well below expectations and representing a double digit fall. The drop cast doubt in the theory of a spring bounce in the US economy.
The euro was the protagonist of the day with an upbeat IFO figure sending it up and a dovish Draghi sending it down.
Tomorrow’s big release is retail sales from the UK. See how to trade the UK retail sales with GBPUSD.
Next week we have critical figures from the US: the buildup to the US Non-Farm Payrolls and the first release of Q1 GDP.
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