Better than expected data in the US: manufacturing has moved up to 52.8 points, reflecting stronger growth. Also the unemployment component, which is eyed towards Friday, is back to growth territory with 51.7 points.
The US dollar is slightly stronger across the board.
New orders rose to 52 points and prices paid made a big rebound from the lows: 49.5, almost at the barrier between growth and contraction, after hitting 40.5 in April.
Also construction spending, released at the same time, impressed with a rise of 2.2%. This was more than triple the expectations for +0.7% and on top of an upwards revision of the previous data to a gain of 0.6% instead of a drop of 0.5% originally reported.
Earlier, Markit’s manufacturing PMI was upgraded to 54 points from the initial assessment 53.8 points. However, US data did not excel beforehand: the core PCE Price Index rose only 1.2% year over year.
The US ISM Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was expected to tick up to 51.9 points in May after 51.5 in April.
The US dollar was moving a bit down towards the release.
- EUR/USD traded around 1.0967 and is now sliding to 1.0930.
- USD/JPY above 124 and is at 124.30 now.
- GBP/USD at 1.5265 and is now at 1.5617.
- AUD/USD just under 0.7650 and is at 0.7620 afterwards.
- USD/CAD around 1.2480 and now at 1.2515.
- NZD/USD at 0.7135 and now at 0.7115.
In our latest podcast, we discuss commodity currencies, oil hedging and preview next week’s events.
Share
