THE EURO rallied 2.21% today, after falling to a sevenmonth trough earlier in the day. ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank will expand its bondbuying purchase scheme beyond the current cutoff point of September 2016 until the end of March 2017, or beyond if necessary. The ECB extended the range of assets that are eligible for purchase and will now also buy regional and local government debt and will reinvest the proceeds from quantitative easing as bonds mature. The pace of the QE program is to remain unchanged at €60 billion, disappointing expectations that the central bank would speed up its bondbuying scheme.
THE YEN slipped 0.13% today. In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management said its nonmanufacturing purchasing manager’s index fell to sixmonth low of 55.9 last month from 59.1 in October, missing forecasts for a reading of 58.0. The data came shortly after the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 28 increased by 9,000 to 269,000 from the previous week’s total of 260,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 last week.
THE SWISS FRANC closed lower today. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a tradeweighted basket of six major currencies, was down 1.50% at 98.55, off Wednesday’s eightmonth peak of 100.54. Data also showed that U.S. factory orders increased by 1.5% in October, beating forecasts for a gain of 1.4%.
STERLING The dollar pushed lower against the pound today, with GBP/USD up 0.63%. The pound found some support after Markit said its U.K. services PMI rose to 55.9 last month from October’s 54.9. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 55.0.
Overseas Change Market Commentary
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