- Euro up against the Pound – Retains highs of previous week
- Single currency shifted by Italian production data – Poor outcomes recorded overall
- Pound Sterling slides as week begins – Leadership clashes lower UK economic confidence
- Small quantity of Eurozone data still to come – Crucial BoE interest rate decision due this week
The Euro has been a mixed contender against peers at the start of the week, though gains have been the general state of play.
For the Pound, losses have been the more prevalent movement, with most of these declines stemming from continuing political uncertainty in the UK.
Eurozone Economic News: Scattering of Data Releases Benefit the Euro
The single currency has risen in most of its exchange rate pairings today, with gains consisting of 0.7% against the Australian Dollar (EUR/AUD), 0.4% against the Pound (EUR/GBP) and 1.4% against the Japanese Yen (EUR/JPY).
Domestic data facilitating this positive performance has actually been fairly limited; Slovakia’s trade surplus has risen considerably in May, while inflation in Lithuania has risen on both the month and the year in June.
In less supportive news, however, Italy has posted falling industrial production results on the month and the year in May.
Pound Sterling Slumps against Peers as Nation’s Leadership remains in Question
The Pound has slipped against most of its peers today, having made losses of -0.5% against the Euro (GBP/EUR), -0.7% against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) and -0.8% against the Thai Baht (GBP/THB). One notable exception to these losses is the Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY), against which the Pound has advanced by 0.9%.
This mostly poor performance by the Pound has come from a lack of domestic data and continued political uncertainty; while the Conservative leadership contest drags on, the Labour Party is expected to finally see an official challenge made against the current Leader Jeremy Corbyn by Angela Eagle, the ex-Shadow Cabinet minister.
Outlining her case for standing, Eagle has said:
‘The Labour Party needs to be saved. I’m stepping up to the plate to say it’s about time that we did this so we can make the Labour Party relevant again and so we can contend for government’.
Future EUR, GBP Forecast: Portuguese Trade Balance Stats and Eurogroup Meeting Incoming
The near-future will bring the last major Eurozone ecostats of the day, with the first being the announcements of Portugal’s balance of trade result for May. Unfortunately for the Euro 2016 winners, an expansion of the current deficit from -€708m to -€860m is on the cards.
Also expected during the afternoon will be a meeting of the Eurogroup, which is scheduled to hold discussions between attendees on what financial impacts the UK’s EU Referendum result has had.
Looking further ahead, Thursday could be a historic day for the UK economy, as the Bank of England (BoE) may actually cut rates for the first time in years in response to the difficulties posed by the ‘Brexit’ decision.
Current EUR, GBP Exchange Rates
The Euro to Pound Sterling (EUR/GBP) exchange rate is currently trending in the region of 0.8572 and the Pound Sterling to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate is trending in the region of 1.1665.