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USD Strength Suffers Lower Factory Goods Blow

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New orders for U.S. factory goods fell for a fifth straight month in December, but a smaller-than-previously reported drop in business spending plans supported views of a rebound in the months ahead.

Other data on Tuesday showing better-than-expected sales in January by the country’s leading automobile manufactures also offered a silver lining for a sector that has taken a hit from weak global demand and falling crude oil prices.

“It suggests that activity will pick up in coming months,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

 
The Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured goods declined 3.4 percent as demand fell across a broad sector of industries. That followed a 1.7 percent decrease in November and exceeded economists expectations for a 2.2 percent drop.

The department also said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft – seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans – slipped only 0.1 percent instead of the 0.6 percent drop reported last month.

Manufacturing is being constrained by weakening demand in Europe and Asia, as well as a strong dollar and falling crude oil prices, which have caused some companies in the energy sector to either delay or cut back on capital expenditure projects.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza

@alfonso_forex

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