Forex - EUR/USD firms on weak U.S. pricing, output data

Published 03/16/2012, 11:57 AM
Updated 03/16/2012, 12:00 PM
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Investing.com - The euro strengthened against the dollar on Friday, reversing earlier losses after U.S. industrial output and inflation data came in a little weaker than expected.

In U.S. trading on Friday, EUR/USD hit 1.3168, up 0.67%, up from a session low of 1.3050 and off from a high of 1.3187.

The pair was likely to test support at 1.3004, Thursday's low, and resistance at 1.3191, Tuesday's high.

In the U.S. industrial output came in flat in February, below expectations for a 0.4% gain.

Core inflation rates, which are stripped of volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% in February, lower than expectations for a gain of 0.2%.

The Federal Reserve pays a good deal of attention to the core inflation rate when setting monetary policy in that it reflects price pressures based on demand in the U.S. and not due to overseas and seasonal factors, which often push up oil and food prices.

Headline inflation rates rose 0.4%, in line with expectations.

Meanwhile the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence index disappointed as well, coming in at 74.3 for March, below expectations for a reading of 75.7.

The data rekindled sentiments that the Federal Reserve may consider rolling out stimulus measures to jolt the economy, including quantitative easing, which are asset purchases from banks that inject liquidity into the country, weakening the dollar in the process.

The euro, meanwhile, was down against the pound and up against the yen, with EUR/GBP trading down 0.13% at 0.8315 and EUR/JPY up 0.38% at 109.73.

On Monday, the eurozone will release its current account balance, a broad measure of the flow of goods, services and transcations going in and out of the continent.







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