The US dollar rallied yesterday as macroeconomic data from the United States was good, while concerns about Europe’s economy persisted. The rally stalled today, but may yet resume as US non-farm payrolls are expected to show robust growth of employment.
The employment index of Automatic Data Processing picked up from 204,000 to 325,000 in December from the previous month, while decline was predicted. Unemployment claims fell from 387,000 to 372,000 last week. The positive employment reports led analysts believe that payrolls, which are released today, would be better than previously estimated. Service industries index rose from 52.0 to 52.6 in December.
The European Commission reported today that the Economic Sentiment Indicator went down to 93.3 in December from 93.8 in November. The financial crisis in the European Union persists, bolstering the US currency. Prospects for another round of stimulating measures from the Federal Reserve still weights on the greenback, though.
EUR/USD slumped from 1.2942 to 1.2788 yesterday and traded at 1.2793 today as of 12:03 GMT after it reached 1.2762 earlier, the lowest rate since September 2010. USD/JPY traded near 77.11 today after it climbed from 76.68 to 77.10 yesterday.
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