EUR/USD is steady on Wednesday, as the pair trades in the mid-1.24 range in the European session. On the release front, it’s been a slow week, with only minor events on Monday and Tuesday. In today’s events, Eurozone Industrial Production matched expectations with a gain of 0.6%. The German Wholesale Price Index disappointed, with a reading of -0.6%.
Eurozone inflation levels continue to limp along. German Wholesale Price Index declined for the second time in three readings, coming in at -0.6%. This was well short of the estimate of +0.2%, and was the index’s steepest decline since November 2013. We’ll get a look at more inflation data during the week, as Germany and France release CPI on Thursday, followed by Eurozone Final CPI on Friday.
Employment numbers have been strong in the US, and this played a major role in the Fed decision to wind up QE in the last week of October. However, US Nonfarm Payrolls, the most important employment indicator, was a big disappointment in October. The indicator slipped to 214 thousand, well short of the estimate of 235 thousand. On a brighter note, the unemployment rate slipped to 5.8%, its lowest level in six years. As well, last week’s unemployment claims fell to 278 thousand. This was better than the estimate of 285 thousand and marked a three-week low.
EUR/USD 1.2468 H: 1.2498 L: 1.2430
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