Euro declines versus USD on US manufacturing

Story link: Euro declines versus USD on US manufacturing

The euro was weaker versus the US dollar on Friday after a new report showed that US manufacturing expanded in January.

The purchasers’ index from the Institute of Supply Management was at 50.7 in January, up from 48.4 in September after most analysts said they thought it would drop rather than rise.

The greenback was trading at $1.4822 to the euro at nearly 1 p.m. in New York and also gained versus the pound to trade at $1.9017 to the pound, but it declined versus the yen to ¥106.2750 to the dollar

The euro was also weaker in relation to the yen and traded at ¥157.5207 to the euro.

The pound, however, declined in relation to the euro to trade at 75.31p to the euro in early afternoon trade in New York, with the UK currency down 1.9 percent versus the shared currency for the week.

The Swiss franc gained on both the euro and the US dollar as investors remained wary of risky deals.

The Swiss currency traded up as much as SFr1.0733 to the dollar and was at SFr1.0839 to the greenback in New York at early afternoon, while at the same time it traded at SFr1.6066 to the euro.

The franc lost some of its gains in relation to the dollar after the news that several US and European banks are getting together to try to help the two largest bond insurers in the world after they reported huge losses in the fourth quarter and Moody’s Investors Service said it was looking at cutting the credit ratings of both bond insurers.