By CountingPips.com
The U.S. dollar has been mixed in forex trading today while the U.S. stock markets have been advancing sharply as April manufacturing data increased by more than expected. The dollar has been on the rise versus the Japanese yen and its major European rivals, the euro, British pound and Swiss franc while trading lower versus the Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar.
The euro, following this weekend’s $110 billion euro bailout, has been on the defensive against the dollar as the EUR/USD pair has declined to trade near the 1.3200 level from 1.3312 at the day’s opening. The euro has been lower 
across the board versus the majors with declines versus the pound, franc, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and a slight decrease against the Japanese yen.
Meanwhile, the U.S. stock markets have advanced sharply so far today with the Dow Jones up by over 150 points, the Nasdaq increasing over 35 points and the S&P 500 gaining by more than 15 points at time of writing. Oil has been virtually unchanged today at $86.18 per barrel while gold has gained by $3.70 to trade at the $1,183.80 per ounce level.
ISM Manufacturing data increases for 9th month
U.S. economic news released today showed that manufacturing data activity rose for the ninth straight month in April, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM Report On Business index reading for economic activity was at a 60.4 score in April following March’s reading of 59.6, touching the highest level since June 2004. A score above 50 is considered to be growth and less than 50 is considered to be contraction in the manufacturing sector.
The data surpassed the market forecasts that were predicting a reading of 59.0 for the month.
Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the ISM Business Survey Committee, commented on the index in the report that, “The manufacturing sector grew for the ninth consecutive month during April. The rate of growth as indicated by the PMI is the fastest since June 2004 when the index hit 60.5 percent. Manufacturers continue to see extraordinary strength in new orders, as the New Orders Index has averaged 61.6 percent for the past 10 months. The signs for employment in the sector continue to improve as the Employment Index registered its fifth consecutive month of growth. Overall, the recovery in manufacturing continues quite strong, and the signs are positive for continued growth.”
Many of the major indexes for April had increased levels with new orders rising by 4.2 percent, production higher by 5.8 percent, employment up by 3.4 percent and prices higher by 3.0 percent.
Exports fell by 0.5 percent while imports edged higher by 1.0 percent. Backlog of orders contracted by 0.5 percent for the month while supplier deliveries, inventories and customers’ inventories all declined for the month.
EUR/USD Forex Chart – The Euro falling today versus the US Dollar in trading as this weekend’s bailout for Greece failed to provide any kind of bounce in the EUR/USD pair.
