The US dollar softened across the board after claims for jobless benefits rose to 231K from 217K in the week ending November 11. That’s a modest miss but the market is extrapolating on the trend.
Wal-Mart today also warned there was a “sharper falloff” in sales during the last two weeks of October, hinting that the consumer is slowing. Update: The CEO also said he sees possible deflation in the coming months.
The Philly Fed manufacturing index headline was stronger than forecast but the future index tumbled and pricing metrics were softer.
That’s led to a broad weakening of the US dollar. USD/JPY is down about 50 pips since the data, sliding to 150.70.
USDJPY 10 mins
The moves are widespread with the euro up to 1.0876 from 1.0850.
Treasury yields are down 5-9 bps across the curve while equity futures are flat.