Activity in the US manufacturing sector in January rose above the predicted value amid the fastest growth since September 2014 in the number of orders, according to preliminary data released on Tuesday.
The report prepared by Markit said that the index of business activity in the US manufacturing sector (PMI) rose to 55.1 in January, after 54.3 in the previous month. This is the highest PMI index value since March 2015.
Analysts had expected a slight increase of this indicator to 54.5.
If PMI index is above 50.0, this suggests an economic growth.
The Markit report emphasizes that the sharp increase in the number of new jobs has led to a rapid increase in business activity and purchases, although the increase in jobs in the export-oriented enterprises is not so significant.
"Manufacturing companies in the US have started well in 2017. In January, production increased significantly in the wake of a sharp increase in new orders", - said the chief economist at Markit, Chris Williamson.
After the publication of the report, EUR/USD was traded at 1.0760, compared with 1.0752 before the publication. GBP/USD rose to 1.2484 against 1.2477 before the report, and USD/JPY fell to 113.10 compared to the previous value of 113.28.
The US Dollar Index, which shows the value of the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, was at 100.05, compared with 100.13 before the report was published.
After the start of the trading session, the US stock indexes showed a slight increase. Futures on the Dow rose 15 points or 0.08%, futures on the S&P 500 added 3 points, or 0.14%, while futures on the high-tech NASDAQ 100 rose 11 points, or 0.20%.
On the commodity markets, gold futures were traded at $ 1215.85 per troy ounce (compared with $ 1215.15 before the release of data), while WTI crude oil futures was at $ 53.19 (compared to $ 53.17 before the publication).