The Euro eased from the four-week high it achieved early in Thursday’s session as US data offered some support to the ‘Greenback’.
Early in the session the Euro climbed to its best level in four-weeks as the US currency was weighed down by yesterday’s disappointing GDP data. The Euro meanwhile was still finding support from increased expectations that yesterday’s inflation data will cause the European Central Bank to refrain from introducing monetary easing measures at next week’s policy meeting
As the session wore on the Euro eased slightly as data out of the United States suggested that the world’s biggest economy is continuing to recover.
A report released by the US Commerce Department showed that consumer spending in the US rose to its highest level in five-years. Spending rose by 0.9% in March as warmer weather enticed shoppers back into stores. The data beat economist forecasts for a rise of 0.6%.
Also lending support to the Dollar was a separate report released by the Institute for Supply Management. The groups index for factory activity increased to 54.9 in April, a rise from the 53.7 recorded in March. The figure was the best seen since last December.
Any figure above 50 indicates expansion.
The positive reports raised expectations that yesterday’s disappointing GDP data was a one-off due to the winters extreme weather.
“It reinforces our expectations for a 3.5% or better second-quarter growth performances,” said the deputy chief economist from TD Securities.
The Euro to USD currency pair is likely to experience movement throughout Friday’s session as key data from both the Eurozone and US is set to be published. First up will be Eurozone unemployment data. If the report shows a decline in the number of jobless then the Euro is likely to receive support, if it declines then the currency will likely soften.
In the afternoon the USA releases its latest unemployment data. Key Nonfarm payrolls data is forecast to show improvement and the overall jobless rate is forecast to fall to 6.6%.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3872 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8214 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.4975 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5227 ,
[/table]
