EUR/USD Gains as Finance Ministers Talk About Greece

    EUR/USD erased its losses today on hopes that European finance ministers will reach an agreement about a bailout for Greece. Earlier, the currency pair dropped as yesterday’s talks between the finance chiefs failed to deliver any meaningful outcome. The US economic reports were largely positive today, but fears of possible tax increases and spending reduction restrained consumers’ confidence.
   Initial jobless claims fell to 410k (seasonally adjusted) last week from the previous week’s revised reading of 451k (the unrevised value was 439k), being below the analysts’ expectations of 415k. (Event A on the chart.)
Michigan Sentiment Index was at 82.7 in October, according the revised estimate, almost unchanged from the September’s 82.6. The preliminary figure was 84.9 and the median forecast was 84.3. The pullback from the per-revision figure can be explained by fears about the fiscal cliff and the inability of politicians to reach an accord for avoiding that danger. (Event B on the chart.)
US leading indicators rose 0.2% in October, in line with predictions, following the revised 0.5% growth in September. (Event B on the chart.)

Crude oil inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels (forecast has promised an increase by 800k barrels) and total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels last week. (Event C on the chart.)