In the latest Euro to US Dollar exchange rate news, impressive manufacturing reports for the Eurozone and its two most influential economies, Germany and France, gave the Euro a boost this morning and the common currency posted its largest gain against the US Dollar for four weeks.
Later in European trading the Euro was able to consolidate gains as a measure of consumer confidence in the Eurozone showed greater-than-forecast improvement.
The index of domestic sentiment advanced from minus 13.5 in December to minus 11.7 in January.
Economists had expected a reading of minus 13.
The result reflects the fact that the Eurozone’s economic recovery has become slightly more convincing in recent weeks.
Industry expert Martin Van Vliet said this of the result; ‘This is good news because consumer spending is still lagging. This ties in with earlier PMI data to show the general mood is improving as the recovery gains traction’.
The EUR/USD pairing was also boosted by several disappointing US data releases.
While fewer US citizens filed for initial jobless claims than forecast, the Chicago Fed net activity index declined unexpectedly and US market PMI fell from 54.5 to 53.7 – closer to the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.
Separate data showed a 1.0 per cent month-on-month increase in existing home sales, larger than the 0.6 per cent gain expected, but November’s figure was negatively revised to a decline of 5.9 per cent.
‘Greenback’ declines were limited by the positive jobless claims data, as benefit applications were close to a six week low. As economist William Cheney pointed out; ‘It’s reassuring. After the December jobs report everybody was pretty nervous. This is a number that makes it more likely December was a fluke.’
Euro to USD forecast
Tomorrow EUR/USD movement could be limited due to a lack of significant economic news for the Eurozone or US.
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,1.3675,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8224 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.5578,
Euro,,New Zealand Dollar,1.6406,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5217 ,
[/table]
