The Euro inched higher to post a one-week high against the Pound and several other peers on Wednesday following the release of confidence data which widely matched economist forecasts.
The currencies gains however are likely to be short-lived as expectations that the European Central Bank will introduce new monetary easing measures at next week’s policy meeting continue to weigh heavily.
Early in the session Germany released its latest unemployment data which showed that the number of Germans out of work increased unexpectedly in May.
The number of people unemployed in the Eurozone’s largest economy rose by the largest amount in five years this month.
The seasonally adjusted jobless total rose by 24,000 this month to 2.905 million, compared to expectations for a fall of 15,000.
The overall jobless rate in the nation remained at 6.7%.
The Euro then managed to claw back some ground against the Pound and other peers after data showed that consumer, business, industrial and economic sentiment improved in May.
The EC’s Economic Sentiment indicator rose to 102.7, up from the previous months figure.
Data out of Spain also offered the single currency some support after a report showed that monthly retail sales increased from March’s figure of -0.6% to 1.1% in April.
The Pound meanwhile found itself under pressure this morning after the Nationwide Building Society warned that London’s housing market is slowing. Prices could begin to fall in the summer after posting strong surges last year.
A cooling of the housing market will not be a bad thing as far as the Bank of England is concerned as just last week BoE governor Mark Carney warned that the housing market was the biggest threat to the UK economy.
“The London Property market is heading for a natural correction with the frenetic pace of buying beginning to fade, according to the head of Britain’s biggest building society,” said Money editor Patrick Collison.
The next major piece of Euro data due this week is Friday’s German retail sales data.
Euro Exchange Rate News:
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3625 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8123 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.4739 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.4778 ,
[/table]
