Forex Forecast: How will U.S. jobless claims data affect EUR/USD?

NEW YORK (Forex News Now) – The Department of Labor is due on Thursday to publish key data on U.S. unemployment claims, in one of the day’s major realtime forex news events.

The report is expected to show that the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to 485,000 last week, according to two major online FX trading news outlets, down from 500,000 during the previous week.

The department is scheduled to release the report at 12:30 P.M., GMT; as such, the data is likely to dominate European afternoon currency market trading.

According to EUR USD analysis, a smaller-than-expected drop in claims, or even an increase, could lift EUR/USD toward short-term resistance around the high of Aug. 20, 1.2832.

Should the data show a greater-than-expected decline in claims, however, the currency pair could be pushed toward short-term support around the low of Aug. 24, 1.2588.

Of course, this latter scenario could actually whet FX traders’ risk appetite, which would be likely actually to boost the single European currency against the dollar.