- Euro harmed by yesterday’s terror attack – Delayed reaction by markets to most recent atrocity
- US currency poor on the whole due to Fed implications – Central bank warned against caution on interest rates
- US Dollar received last-minute boost on domestic data – Better-than-expected retail sales result
- ECB to decide interest rate on Thursday – US home sales data due on same day
The Euro was, for the most part, a strong contender against the US Dollar last week, only to be thwarted by late, beneficial domestic data.
The US Dollar has been trending in the doldrums for the most part, only to receive a last minute shot in the arm from national ecostats.
Eurozone Economic News: Terror Attack in Nice Triggered Uncertainty among Investors
In spite of managing to appreciate steadily against the US Dollar last week, the Euro and Europe itself were struck with tragedy on Thursday night by a horrendous act committed in the French city of Nice.
Taking place at the close of Bastille Day, the attack did not cause an immediate shift in the value of the single currency, but as the day dragged on and thoughts turned to the future, investors turned away from the Euro due to concerns about how such attacks could be prevented or even predicted in the future.
In terms of domestic data, Wednesday brought extremely mixed inflation rate stats while Friday saw the June inflation rate fall on the month in June but more importantly rise out of the negative zone on Friday.
The single currency bloc’s trade balance surplus was reduced on Friday for May, from €27.5bn to €24.6bn.
US Dollar Jumped after Afternoon brought Positive Ecostats
Despite having fared poorly over most of the week, the US Dollar nonetheless managed to drag itself out of a pit of negative declines against most peers on Friday.
The prior low value was generated by Fed comments focusing on the interest rate. Fed official Esther George stated that low interest rates over a long period would likely harm the US economy, which alarmed investors due to the caution displayed among a number of other Fed officials.
Despite hawkishness from some figures, the opinion has generally been among economists that a rate hike is not likely until 2017 at the earliest.
Beneficially, advance retail sales rose in June while the consumer price index for June on the year excluding food and energy also increased in a supportive manner.
Future EUR, USD Forecast: ECB Interest Rate Decision Next Week along with US Housing Stats
The week to come will mainly see impactful Eurozone economic announcements made, with the greatest of these being Thursday European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision.
The ECB has come under increasing scrutiny lately, on account of the fact that its policymakers could drop some kind of hint as to whether a cut or a hike is due in a post-‘Brexit’ Europe.
The US will hold its biggest announcement until Thursday as well, when the pessimistically-predicted existing home sales result for June is due.
Recent EUR, USD Exchange Rates
The Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate has been trending in the region of 1.1067 and the US Dollar to Euro (USD/EUR) exchange rate has been trending in the region of 0.9038 today.
