By CountingPips.com
The US dollar has been gaining on most of the major currencies in forex trading action while the euro has fallen sharply as the European Central Bank held its interest rate steady earlier today. The dollar has increased on the day versus the euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar and the Swiss franc while the American currency has fallen against the Australian dollar, according currency data from Oanda in the afternoon of the US trading session.
The US stock markets have been moderately higher in today’s session with the Dow gaining by approximately 20 points, the Nasdaq increasing over 4 points and the S&P 
500 up by close to 3 points at time of writing. Oil has edged lower to $90.62 per barrel while gold futures have jumped $18.20 to $1,349.70 per ounce.
News out of Europe today focused on the European Central Bank which held its interest rate steady as widely expected by market forecasts and economists. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet’s comments on the European economy helped weaken the euro as Trichet dampened expectations of an interest rate increase. Trichet commented that, “inflationary pressures over the medium to long term should remain contained” and “the current key ECB interest rates still remain appropriate.” Traders took Trichet’s comments as dovish for interest rates and sold the euro in today’s market.
Economic news releases today in the US showed that new weekly jobless claims declined more than expected through January 29th. Jobless claims fell by 42,000 workers to bring the jobless claims to a total of 415,000 workers last week. Continuing claims also fell for the week by 84,000 workers.
The ISM non-manufacturing survey was also released today and showed that service sector economic activity rose more than expected to a score of 59.4 in January. This follows a score of 57.1 in December and beat market forecasts looking for a 57.2 score for the month.
EUR/USD Chart – The euro falling sharply today versus the dollar in trading as the EUR/USD came under pressure on the comments from ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet. The euro had reached a recent high versus the dollar in yesterday’s trading near the 1.3860 level before today’s decline.
