Forexpros – The euro firmed against the U.S. dollar in morning U.S. trade Friday, easing up from a 3 month low, as Greek political leaders agreed to keep Greece in the euro zone.
EUR/USD hit 1.2932 during U.S. afternoon trade, falling 0.03%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2886, the low of January 20 and resistance at 1.3006, Wednesday’s high.
The euro found support as Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece’s New Democracy Party, reported that the four rival parties have accepted terms of no exit from the euro region..
On Wednesday, Alexis Tsipras, the head of Greece’s second-biggest party Syriza, gave up his attempt to form a new government, pushing the debt-stricken country closer to its second election in a few weeks.
In the U.S., the Department of Labor said earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 5 fell to 367,000, defying expectations for an increase of 1,000 to 369,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 368,000 from 365,000.
Meanwhile, a separate report indicted the U.S. trade deficit widened to USD51.8 billion in March from deficit of USD45.4 billion in February.
Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to widen to USD50.0 billion.
Data also indicated that import prices in the U.S. fell more-than-expected in April, declining 0.5% after a 1.5% the previous month. Analysts had expected import prices to fall 0.1% in April.
In other news, Friday, JP Morgan Chase & Co reported a USD2 billion trading loss lifting the greenback as investors sought the safety of the U.S. dollar.
Elsewhere, the euro traded higher against the pound with EUR/GBP moving higher 0.22%, to hit 0.8030.
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