All eyes are on the European Central Bank today with investors watching and waiting to see whether the currency bloc’s bank will take further action to try and revive the regions stalling economic recovery.
At last month’s policy meeting the Banks board of policy makers shocked the markets by slashing interest to a new record low level of 0.25% as they responded to data showing that inflation in the Eurozone fell to 0.7% in October. The move sent the Euro tumbling against its peers.
This time round economists are not expecting anything quite as dramatic as inflation has ticked higher to 0.9% and unemployment fell slightly giving the Bank some breathing room. Despite the improvements they are only miniscule compared to the scale of the problems facing the region.
“Mario Draghi is action man, if he sees a need for action, then he acts… but the opportunity to do more simply isn’t there because the data has improved,” an economist from Berenberg Bank said of ECB President Mario Draghi. He along with other economists is forecasting that the ECB will not make any changes to interest rates. Instead they will be looking for any signs as to what the ECB has planned next.
At Draghi’s news conference due at 13:30pm GMT, Draghi will present updated projections from the ECB’s staff, which will include their first forecasts for 2015. The new estimates will give markets insight into the ECB’s view on inflation over the medium term, the horizon over which it aims to deliver price stability in line with its target.
Other data released today showed that unemployment remained steady at 10.9% in France, Yearly industrial production fell in Spain and inflation came in just below expectations in the Netherlands.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
As of 10:35 am GMT
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3594
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8314
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5077
The Euro/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6594
The Euro/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4510
The Euro/ Japanese Yen Rate Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 138.8016
The Euro/Swiss Franc Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.2263
The Pound Sterling/ Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.2024
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7356
The Australian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6632
The New Zealand Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6026
The Canadian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6892
Swiss Franc/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8154