EUR/USD hit 1.3371 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s highest since January 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3359, gaining 0.32%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.3263, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 1.3397, the high of January 18 and an almost 11-month high. In the U.S., the Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance last week fell to the lowest level since January 2008. The number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000, compared to expectations for an increase of 20,000 to 355,000. Jobless claims for the preceding week stood at 335,000 people. Earlier Thursday, data from the euro zone showed that manufacturing activity in Germany and the wider euro zone improved in January, but indicated that France, the bloc’s second largest economy may be in a recession. Germany’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 48.8 from 46.0 in December, still below the 50 level that separates contraction from expansion. Germany’s private sector expanded at the fastest pace in more than a year, with the services PMI rising to 55.3 for January, compared with 52.0 in December. The euro zone manufacturing PMI rose to a 10-month high of 47.5 in January from a final reading of 46.1 in December, while the services PMI came in at 48.3 from 47.8 in December. The French manufacturing PMI fell to a four-month low of 42.9 this month, while the services PMI came in at 43.6. The euro hit 11-month highs against the broadly weaker pound, with EUR/GBP rising 0.70% to 0.8462 and was trading just below 20-month highs against the yen, with EUR/JPY rallying 1.72% to 120.04. The yen weakened against the other major currencies on Thursday after Japan’s Deputy Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said an exchange rate of 100 yen to the dollar would not a be a concerns to the government.
EasyForexNews Research Team