The US Dollar is forecast to climb to a six-week high against the Euro as the week comes to a close due to investors expecting that a speech held by a Federal Reserve policy will support the Central Banks plans to continue with cutting its monetary easing policy.
Later in the session Fed policy maker Jeffrey Lacker is due to make a speech which is expected to echo sentiments expressed by other Fed policy makers Charles Plosser and Richard Fisher threw in their support for a continuation of a reduction to the Feds easing programme. A string of better than forecast data releases has also buoyed the currency.
The ‘Greenback’ is on course to make gains against all but two of its 16 most traded peers and could push higher in the afternoon if industrial and manufacturing production data comes in strongly.
The Euro was weighed down by the release of weaker than expected construction output data. According to Eurostat construction output declined by -0.6% from October’s figure and fell by -1.7% from the previous year, a figure that was worse than the -1.28% economists had been forecasting.
Eurostat said that, while work on civil engineering projects increased over the month, construction of residential and commercial buildings declined. Construction fell in Germany and Italy, but picked up in Spain and France.
The data highlights how the economic recovery has yet to spread to all parts of the region.
Euro Exchange Rate:
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3601 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8271 ,
US Dollar,,Euro,0.7352 ,
Pound,,Euro,1.2087 ,
[/table]
