EUR/USD fell on Thursday, approaching the 1.0800 mark, after an unexpected rise in U.S. services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data once again raised concerns that the Federal Reserve (FED) will cut interest rates less often. That sent investors chasing the safe-haven dollar and weighed on the euro, despite a better-than-expected Hamburg Commerzbank PMI earlier in the day.
The European and US Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) released on Thursday were both better than market expectations. The data were generally higher than expected and improved from the previous value. However, the US Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose from 51.3 to 54.8. , higher than expected, suppressing broad market expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September.