THE TAKEAWAY: USD ISM Non-Manufacturing/Services Composite (FEB) > 56.0 versus 55.0 expected, from 55.2 > USDOLLAR BULLISH
After a strong ISM Manufacturing (FEB) report on Friday, the ISM Non-Manufacturing (FEB) report has followed through with another beat. The services index rose to 56.0 from 55.2, marking the eighth consecutive beat for the report, as the underlying components of the index showed broad improvement. By all indications, the US economy is starting to gather momentum despite political leaders’ best attempts to prevent it from doing so, via its latest self-made crisis, the automatic US budget sequestration that went into effect on Friday.
The Employment subcomponent steadied at 57.2 from 57.5, although the New Orders subcomponent rose to 58.2 from 56.4 in January. Likewise, the Business Activity subcomponent increased modestly to 56.9 from 56.4; in sum, these readings suggest that companies continue to spend, while consumers continue to consume, despite the aforementioned economic roadblocks in place.
Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index (Ticker: USDOLLAR) 5-minute Chart: March 5, 2013
Charts Created using Marketscope – Prepared by Christopher Vecchio
Following the release, the USDOLLAR rallied from near session lows of 10447 to a fresh session high at 10465, at the time this report was written. Of the subcomponents of the USDOLLAR: the EURUSD fell from 1.3045 to as low as 1.3010; the GBPUSD fell from 1.5152 to as low as 1.5108; the AUDUSD fell from 1.0241 to as low as 1.0224; and the USDJPY rallied from 93.50.
--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, Currency Analyst
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