The Euro managed to halt its decline against the US Dollar on Wednesday and held its ground following yesterday’s sharp fall to a five-week low.
Euro traders are sliding into a holding pattern ahead of Thursday’s eagerly anticipated Eurozone GDP growth data and inflation data.
A poor showing from those reports is likely to set the Euro back on a downward path as investors will surely raise their bets that the European Central Bank will introduce new monetary easing measures at June’s monetary policy meeting.
Against the Japanese Yen the Euro slid to its lowest level in two months as speculation for further easing continued to increase.
The currency bloc’s month on month consumer price inflation figure is expected to come in at 0.2%, below the previous figure of 0.9%.
The Eurozone’s GDP however is forecast to have ticked higher in April. Quarter on quarter, GDP is expected to have increased from 0.2% to 0.4%.
Against the Pound the Euro rallied after the Bank of England left its growth and inflation forecasts widely unchanged. The Bank also reduced the likelihood of raising interest rates anytime soon after saying it was in no rush to do so.
“As set out in its February guidance, when the Committee does start to raise Bank Rate, it expects to do so only gradually and to a level materially below its pre-crisis average,” the report said.
The US Dollar found some support after a report showed that the number of applications for mortgages rose last week. Applications rose by 3.6% last week beating expectations for a slight fall.
As well as the Eurozone GDP and inflation data releases the EUR/USD pair is likely to experience movement on Thursday due to the release of US industrial and manufacturing production data. Also due for release is the latest initial jobless claim data.
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,1.3706 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8175 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.4588 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.4944 ,
[/table]
