The Euro (EUR) eased higher against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday afternoon as disappointing jobless claims data out of the world’s largest economy weighed upon the ‘Greenback’.
Data published earlier in the session had little impact upon the Euro despite it showing that the Eurozone economy stagnated in the second quarter of the year.
GDP contracted in Germany for the first time since 2012 and a spate report showed that inflation in the currency bloc fell closer towards deflation.
According to Eurostat, the Eurozone’s GDP failed to expand in the second quarter, a figure that was worse than the small expansion of 0.1% expected by economists.
The negative impact of the standoff between the West and Russia as well as a mild winter was being blamed for the poor figures.
‘A stalling of economic growth in the second quarter raises concerns that the euro area is sliding back into a triple dip recession. Many, including the European Central Bank, point to survey data suggesting such fears are overplayed, and that growth will revive as previously announced stimulus take effect. But the weakness of economic growth will certainly fuel louder calls for the ECB to do more to reinvigorate growth across the single currency area,’ said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
The negative data suggests that the Eurozone economic recovery has stalled and increased pressure upon the European Central Bank (ECB) to take more action to promote growth and tackle the threat of deflation.
Eurozone GDP Data
Belgium: +0.1% quarter-on-quarter
Bulgaria: +0.5%
Czech Republic: 0.0
Germany: -0.2%
Estonia: +0.5%
Spain: + 0.6%
France: 0.0%
Italy: -0.2%
Cyprus: -0.3%
Latvia: +1.0%
Lithuania: +0.7%
Hungary: +0.8%
Netherlands: +0.5
Austria: +0.2%
Poland: +0.6%
Portugal: +0.6%
Romania: -1.0%
Slovakia: +0.6%
Finland: +0.1%
Sweden: +0.2%
The US Dollar weakened after data released by the Washington based Labour Department showed that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the US increased more than forecast last week.
The number of claimants climbed to its highest level in six weeks as claims increased by 21,000 to 311,000 in the week ending on August 9, Economists had been forecasting for a figure of 295,000.
The US Dollar is likely to regain ground against the Euro and push higher on Friday if the latest Industrial and manufacturing production data comes in positively. With no Eurozone, data due the single currency will be at the mercy of data releases and events from elsewhere.
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,1.3394 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8023 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.4371 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.4591 ,
[/table]
