Combination of weak US jobless claims, new home sales, PMI push dollar down

The US dollar was weak due to a combination of new home sales, initial jobless claims and the Markit PMI. All these factors point to expectations of a more-dovish Fed.

USD/JPY fell to as low as 119.28 in early Friday European session trading, moving further off Thursday’s high of 120.07.

Sales of new US homes fell more than forecast in March from a seven-year high. Purchases of new homes decreased 11.4 percent to a four-month low 481,000 annualized pace. The consensus was for a 515,000 rate.

Meanwhile, in the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 295,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 294,000.

April data indicated slower growth momentum for the U.S. manufacturing sector, with production volumes and incoming new work both expanding at weaker rates than in the previous month. This contributed to a fall in the headline seasonally adjusted Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index to 54.2 in April, from 55.7 in March.

Focus now turns to durable goods orders data due later on Friday. These figures have been weak for six months.

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