Strong US Durable Goods Orders Trigger Risk Appetite –

For a change, some good news from the US: Durable goods orders leaped by 4%, far higher than a rise of 2.1% that was expected. Also the core figure came out better than predicted – a rise of 0.7% (a drop of 0.3% was predicted).

The dollar is now falling against the “risk” currencies, with EUR/USD moving higher, still capped by resistance.

Also last month’s figures were revised to the upside: the drop of 2.1%  initially  reported in orders was revised to a only -1.9%. The rise in core orders was revised from 0.1% to 0.4%.

The safe haven currencies are now weakening against the greenback: USD/CHF is rising above 0.79. USD/JPY is also moving up, but the move is limited in this slow moving pair.

We are currently in an environment where good US figures weaken the dollar against the euro,  Aussie and kiwi – risk appetite. Bad US figures helped the dollar against these currencies.

For more about the current market behavior, see Risk Factor Explained.

One of the worst figures reported recently was the Philly Fed Index, which dropped to the lowest level since March 2009. Also the very slow growth in H1 in the US weighed on the whole world.