After rising since the beginning of this week, the EUR/USD currency pair dropped today as risk aversion returned to markets, making investors to opt for the safety provided by the greenback once again. Positive employment data published today in the U.S. also reiterated the hypothesis that the North American economy is currently more solid than the Eurozone. EUR/USD erased yesterday’s advance totally and currently trades at 1.3918.
ADP employment report showed a decline of 22k workplaces in January, indicating better figures than what forecasts expected, at -31k positions. This report has been showing several consecutive monthly improvements, this time from the revised reading of -61k in December.
ISM non-manufacturing index rose to 50.5 in January from a previous revised reading of 49.8. The actual figures came slightly below forecasts that expected this index to be at 51.1.
U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels from the previous week. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.3 million barrels last week. Both inventories remained at above the upper limit of the average range.
Pending home sales published yesterday increased to 96.6 in December from a previous reading of 95.6 in November, an increase of 1.0% that came beyond forecasts that expected this number to rise just 0.4%.