Germany’s manufacturing PMI missed expectations with a 2.1 points drop to 61.2 points. On the other hand, the services PMI jumped by 1.2 points to 57 points. These are mixed figures.
EUR/USD is trading at 1.2315, a few pips under the pre-announcement levels, but well within the high range it reached in the Asian session.
Markit’s purchasing managers’ index for the German manufacturing sector was expected to tick down from the sky-high level of 63.3 to 63 points in the preliminary read for January. The services PMI was projected to slip from 55.8 to 55.6 points.
EUR/USD was trading above 1.23 ahead of the publication. US dollar weakness pushed the pair to new three-year highs of 1.2335. The general sell-off of the greenback caused the pair to move before the ECB meeting tomorrow.
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Earlier, the French manufacturing PMI missed expectations with 58.1 against 58.7 predicted. However, the French services PMI hit 59.3, above 58.9 points expected. In any case, the numbers are well above the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction.
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