Investing.com - U.S. manufacturing activity dropped further than expected in February, the influential ISM purchasing managers' index showed on Monday, signaling that the U.S. economic recovery was still fragile.
The Institute of Supply Management's index stood at 56.5 for the month, down from 58.4 in January. Economists had expected the figure to drop only to 58.
Norbert J. Ore, chair of the institute, said in a statement that, "The manufacturing sector grew for the seventh consecutive month during February.
"While new orders and production were not as strong as they were in January, they still show significant month-over-month growth."
The euro erased some of its earlier losses against the dollar in the wake of the report, which is considered a very important and trusted economic measure. However, EUR/USD was still down 0.71% at 1.3527 during early U.S. trade.