Forex - EUR/USD trades lower on weak global numbers

Investing.com - The euro moved lower against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, as weak euro zone economic data outweighed unexpectedly feeble U.S. job numbers sending investors to the safety of the greenback

EUR/USD hit 1.3123 during U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since April 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3153, declining 0.63%.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.3104, the low of April 23 and resistance at 1.3240, the session high.

Dampening the enthusiasm for the greenback, U.S. payroll processing firm ADP reported non-farm employment increased by 119,000 in April, missing forecasts, after a 201,000 rise the previous month. Economists expected non-farm employment to rise by 178,000 in April.

In additional bearish news Wednesday, a government report indicated that factory orders in the U.S. declined 1.5% in March, in line with expectations and following a 1.1% rise the previous month.

Single currency sentiment weakened after final euro zone manufacturing data for April came in weaker-than-expected, with the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index slumping to a 34-month low of 45.9 in April, down from 47.7 in March and below the preliminary estimate of 46.0.

German manufacturing output dropped at the fastest rate since July 2009, with its manufacturing PMI tumbling to 46.2, from 48.4 in March, while a separate report showed that the German unemployment rate also increased last month.

Another economic report signaled that the unemployment rate in the euro zone climbed to a fresh record high of 10.9% in March.

In Italy, government data indicated the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to 9.8% for March, the highest level since the current index began in 2004, from 9.3% the previous month.

Meanwhile, investors remained nervous ahead of the ECB’s policy meeting on Thursday as well as weekend elections in Greece and France.

The euro was trading close to a fresh 22-month low against the pound with EUR/GBP giving back 0.47%, to hit 0.8122.