The Euro had a fairly positive week last week as it began to recover some ground against the Pound and hit a multi-month high against the US Dollar. It also maintained its stronger stance against the heavily weighed upon Australian Dollar and maintained its strength against the New Zealand and Canadian Dollar.
At the start of the week the Euro fell to a session low against the US Dollar and continued to trade weaker against the Pound. The currency briefly benefitted from better-than-expected manufacturing data out of the Eurozone but disappointing data out of Spain and France however prevented the single currency from capitalizing against its peers.
On Tuesday the single currency managed to make gains against the US Dollar after data released in Spain showed a decline in unemployment. The data surprised the markets who had been expecting the jobless rate to rise further. Instead the data showed that the number of Spaniards out of work fell in November by 2.5k, economists had been forecasting a rise by 44.3k. Consumer confidence too came in far better than expected.
Midweek the Euro began its run of gains against the Pound by managing to recover some ground against the UK currency after the regions services PMI beat expectations. The Euro shrugged off official data released earlier in the session which showed that retail sales fell 0.2% in October, confounding expectations for a 0.3% rise.
The Euro then made gains against the Pound and US Dollar after the ECB refrained from cutting interest rates during Thursday’s policy meeting. The currency jumped after the Central Bank announced that it had revised its growth forecasts for 2014 upwards. The currency also received a boost from comments made by ECB President Mario Draghi. The Central Bank President did not make any mention of negative interest rates, putting investors at ease.
As the week came to a close the single currency managed to tick higher against the US Dollar due to the increase in demand for riskier assets in the wake of the release of positive data out of the world’s largest economy.
The Euro today is currently trading close to a six-week high against the US Dollar and is little changed against the Pound as demand for riskier assets continues to be fairly high following last week’s positive US data. The currency found some support on Monday after GDP data out of Greece matched forecasts and an Investor sentiment survey came in better-than forecast. Gains were limited however as data out of Germany showed that the region’s largest economy saw its trade balance narrow in October.
Key Euro data for the week ahead:
Tuesday December 10th – Italy GDP data,
Wednesday December 11th – German inflation rate
Greek unemployment rate
Thursday December 12th – Eurozone consumer confidence
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
As of 10:50 am GMT
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3715
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8372
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5091
The Euro/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6571
The Euro/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4606
The Euro/ Japanese Yen Rate Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 141.3163
The Euro/Swiss Franc Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.2243
The Pound Sterling/ Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1944
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7291
The Australian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6628
The New Zealand Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6036
The Canadian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6847
Swiss Franc/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8168
