Forex - EUR/USD lower after Fed, China data

Investing.com - The euro was lower against the dollar on Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it could start scaling back its bond buying program by the end of the year, while weak Chinese manufacturing data also weighed.EUR/USD hit 1.3245 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since June 11; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3251, shedding 0.32%.The pair was likely to find support at 1.3176, the low of June 10 and resistance at 1.3300, the session high.Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the bank could begin slowing asset purchases by the end of 2013 and wind them down completely by the middle of 2014 if the economy picks up as the central bank expects.The bank said it expects the U.S. economy to grow between 2.3% and 2.6% in 2013. The Fed also said it expects the unemployment rate to fall to between 6.5% and 6.8% by the end of 2014 and inflation to edge closer to its 2% target.Elsewhere, data on Thursday showed that China's HSBC preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to a nine month low of 48.3 in June from 49.2 in May as new orders fell, indicating that the slowdown in manufacturing is worsening.The euro was slightly lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.08% to 0.8578 and was higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY rising 0.52% to 128.85.The euro zone was to release preliminary data on manufacturing and service sector activity later in the day. The U.S. was to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims, in addition to data on existing home sales and the Philly Fed manufacturing index.
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