US Durable Goods, Consumer Spending fall. Dollar mixed in Forex Market Trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

December 24, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Durable Goods, Personal Spending fall. Dollar mixed in Forex Market Trading.

Economic news out of the U.S. today showed that durable goods orders declined less than forecast in the month of November. Durable goods orders in the United States fell 1.0 percent in November to a total of $186.9 billion according to news released by the U.S. Commerce USD mixed in Forex Market Trading Department today. November's total was $1.0 billion less than October's total which had shown a decrease of 8.4 percent from September.

Market forecasts had been expecting that durable goods orders would decrease by approximately 3.0 percent for the month. New orders for durable goods excluding transportation declined by 1.2 percent in November following a decrease of 4.4 percent in October and falling less than forecasts that were predicting a decrease of 3.0 percent.

Durable goods are products manufactured in the U.S. and considered to last more than three years. November's results for shipments of durable goods decreased by 2.6 percent or $5.3 billion, falling for the fourth straight month. Unfilled orders decreased 0.6 percent($5.1 billion) in the month while durable good inventories increased 0.5 percent($1.6 billion) from October which saw a 0.4 percent gain. November nondefense orders for new goods fell by 0.5 percent while defense orders for goods increased by 0.6 percent.

Income and Spending falls in November.

The Department of Commerce report today on personal income and outlays showed that personal income decreased in November by 0.2 percent and fell for the fifth straight month. November's decline follows up October's revised 0.1 percent income rise and surpassed forecasts expecting no change in personal income for the month. Personal spending or personal consumption expenditure decreased by 0.6 percent in November after a 1.0 percent decrease in October and just slightly beat forecasts expecting a 0.7 percent rise.

The core personal consumption expenditure for the month of November, excluding energy and food prices, showed no change for November following no change in October. Year-over-year changes in the core PCE increased to 1.9 percent following a revised 2.0 percent increase in October. Market forecasts were expecting no change in the month core PCE while expecting the annual rate to increase by 2.0 percent. The Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator, a widely used gauge of price inflation, showed that inflation increased only at a 1.4 percent pace in November following a 3.2 percent increase in October and marked the smallest monthly advance in over five years.

Jobless Claims reach 26-year high.

A separate government release by the U.S. Labor Department showed that weekly U.S. jobless claims increased in the week that ended on December 20th to the highest level in 26 years. New jobless claims grew to a total of 586,000 unemployed workers, an increase over the prior week by 30,000 workers. A 4-week moving average of unemployed workers rose by 13,750 from the prior week to a total of 558,000. Meanwhile, workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending December 13th decreased by 17,000 workers to a total of 4,370,000 while a four week moving average of continuing claims grew by 93,000 to 4,319,750.

US Dollar showing mixed results in forex trading.

The U.S. dollar has been mixed in forex trading today against the major currencies in thin trading on Christmas Eve day. The euro has advanced verses the dollar as the EUR/USD has edged up from today's 1.3957 opening exchange rate at 00:00 GMT to trading at approximately 1.3996 in the morning of the US trading session at 10:41pm ET.

The British pound has fallen ever so slightly today verses the American currency from 1.4780 to trading at 1.4774 dollars per pound. The dollar has advanced slightly against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has gained from its 90.45 opening to trading at 90.52.

The dollar has declined against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.2173 earlier today to trading at 1.2151.Meanwhile, the USD has also declined against the Swiss franc from 1.0876 to trading at 1.0723. The Australian dollar has gained ground verses the USD as the AUD/USD trades at 0.6822 after opening today at 0.6771 while the New Zealand dollar has also advanced verses the USD and trades at 0.5746 after opening at 0.5680.

USD/CHF Chart - The US dollar declining today verses the Swiss franc in forex trading. The USD/CHF is trading significantly below its 21 day moving average as the currency pair has fallen over 1,000 pips in approximately two weeks(Daily Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: durable goods, personal income, spending, pce, forex trading, jobs

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