Less than expected decline in the Durable Goods Orders along with higher than projected new home sales added to optimism of a possible bottom in the economic downturn. U.S. New Home Sales fell 0.6% in March from 358,000 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 356,000. Nonetheless, overabundance of unsold new homes and competition from foreclosed properties situated a 12% drop in the median sales price from a year earlier to $201,400.

EUR/USD rallied today in Asian and early European trade on short covering as failure to break the psychologically key 1.2500 level over the past several days prompted a buying spree despite the fact that economic data from the region continued to paint a bleak picture. On the economic front German trade balance printed at 8.3 Billion euro surplus - less than the 10.0 Billion number that the market was expecting - while French data showed a deficit of -4.5 Billion against forecasts of -3.0 Billion.