020 7898 0500In the week ending 12 May 2018, some 222,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits, up from 211,000 the week before. The markets had been expecting an increase, but only to 215,000, and yesterday’s figure is the highest for four weeks.
However, there was some more encouraging news in the form of the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, which increased to 34.4 in May from 23.2 the previous month. It has been expected to dip to 21 and the reading is the highest since May 2017. The increase was largely attributed to an improvement in new orders, shipments and employment. The US economy does look to be doing well of late, although dollar movements were fairly limited against the euro and it weakened against sterling.
The other talking point from yesterday’s events was Total’s announcement that it is planning to withdraw from its large Iran gas field deal. It sent Brent crude up to $80 a barrel for the first time since November 2014 and supported the US dollar given its safe haven status.
