US Inflation rises more than expected, Dollar gains vs. euro in forex trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

August 14, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Inflation rises more than expected, Dollar gains vs. euro in forex trading.

Consumer Prices in the U.S. rose by more than expected in July according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Consumer Price Index, a gauge of inflation, increased by 0.8 percent in July as energy and food prices continued to rise. The July cpi rose twice as much as the 0.4 percent rise economic forecasts were expecting and follows up a 1.1 percent gain in cpi from June. The annual rate of increase for cpi rose to 5.6 percent over last year's July level and marked a 17-year high.

USD Forex News Economic forecasts were expecting an annual rise of 5.1 percent in July. Core cpi, excluding energy and food prices, increased by 0.3 percent in July and registered an annual increase of 2.5 percent. Forecasts were expecting a 0.2 percent rise for the month and an annual rise of 2.4 percent. Energy prices continued to push prices higher as the energy index rose by 4.0 percent in July. Also contributing to the higher prices for the month were food which increased 0.9 percent, transportation which increased 1.7 percent and apparel which rose by 1.2 percent for the month.

Weekly Jobless Claims fall.

Weekly U.S. jobless claims decreased in the week that ended on August 9th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 450,000 unemployed workers, a decline of 10,000 from the week prior. A 4-week moving average rose by 19,500 from the prior week to 440,500.

Workers continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending August 2nd rose by 114,000 workers to 3,417,000. A four week moving average of continuing claims rose by 75,250 from last week to 3,273,750. The prior week's moving average registered 3,198,500.

US Dollar rises against the euro in Forex Trading.

The U.S. dollar has risen today against the euro in forex trading following the inflation data and the news that the eurozone economy contracted in the 2nd quarter. The dollar started the day at approximately 1.4896 dollars per euro and increased its exchange value as it traded as low as 1.4779 usd per euro before retreating back above 1.4810. The breaching of the 1.4800 level today is the highest exchange value of the dollar verses the euro since February 25th of this year. Against the rest of the major currencies, the dollar has been mostly mixed today with little or no gains against the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and British pound. The dollar has gained against the Japanese yen from opening the day at approximately 109.50 and trading this afternoon at 109.77 while also gaining ground against the Swiss franc from opening at 1.0859 to trading later at 1.0943.

EUR/USD Chart - The USD has gained today against the EUR and has traded at its highest exchange rate since February 25th(1 Day Chart).

Forex Chart

tags: forex, consumer prices, inflation, trading, jobless claims

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