Weekly jobless claims remained low, at 305K. They were expected to rise to 319K from 310K last week (revised up from 309K originally reported). The third release of GDP growth for Q2 (and currently the “final” version) was expected to feature an upgrade from 2.5% reported in the second release to 2.7% now, but it remained unchanged at 2.5%. The year over year growth was downgraded from 1.5% to 1.3% These top tier figures are watched by the Federal Reserve. The composition of GDP also makes a difference.
EUR/USD was clinging to the 1.35 line, and USD/JPY was trading around 98.70 before the publication. GBP/USD managed to stay above 1.60 despite a downgrade in YoY GDP in the UK. The dollar is marginally stronger after the publication.
The door is still open for an “Octaper” – tapering of QE in the Fed’s October meeting. However, there are better chances that it will happen at the December meeting. Bullard talked about the possibility of QE tapering, while other Fed officials seemed to prefer waiting. A lot depends on the NFP next week.
There is another significant release today coming at 14:00 GMT. See how to trade the US pending home sales with USD/JPY.
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