USDMYR Technical Analysis

The USDMYR was down -0.11% on Thursday and is now trading at 4.4350. The downward movement is due to the release of two economic data that hurt the USD. One of them is the Initial Jobless Claims, which came in worse than expected (245k real against 240k forecast). As this indicator measures the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week, it helps to understand how the US job market is doing. Higher than expected readings tend to be negative for the USD. Another indicator that came in below expectations was the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for the month of April (-31.3 real against -19.2 forecast). This indicator rates the relative level of general business conditions in Philadelphia and readings above 0 show improving business conditions while readings below zero show worsening business conditions. The main element here is the big difference between expectation and reality and this could accentuate the fall of the USD in the coming days. From a technical point of view, USDMYR is in a sideways channel and may drop as low as 4.3850 to test the bottom of the channel.