EUR/USD Continues to Decline amid Coronavirus Fears

EUR/USD extended yesterday’s decline today even though positive PMI reports in the eurozone helped the market sentiment a bit. But investors remained cautious due to the COVID-19 spreading across Europe and subsequent lockdowns announced by European nations. As for US macroeconomic data, most of today’s reports were worse than expected.

Durable goods orders fell by 1.1% in February instead of rising by 0.7% as experts had predicted. The indicator increased by 3.5% in the previous month. (Event A on the chart.)

Markit manufacturing PMI edged up to 59.0 in March from 58.6 in February according to the flash report but still missed the median forecast of 59.6. Markit services PMI rose to 60.0 from 59.8, matching expectations. (Event B on the chart.)

US crude oil inventories rose by 1.9 million barrels last week, slightly more than analysts had predicted, and were about 6% above the five-year average for this time of year. The stockpiles increased by 2.4 million barrels the week before. Total motor gasoline inventories rose by 0.2 million barrels but were about 3% below the five-year average. (Event C on the chart.)

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