The latest economic data isn’t doing much to help the euro today. The 17-nation currency is struggling against its major counterparts, despite the latest report on manufactured goods. There are still enough concerns about the eurozone and its recovery to give some Forex traders pause about the euro.
Markit Economics reports today that the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) moved up to 51.4 in August, showing an improvement over the July reading of 50.3. This indicates that new orders are coming in quickly. All the economies in the eurozone saw improvement, with the exception of France.
However, the news isn’t all good. Even with this positive economic data, employment remains stagnant. There are indications that companies aren’t ready to hire yet, and that they are still in cost-cutting mode. This indicates that confidence in the eurozone’s economic recovery is still a little shaky.
Without that confidence, and without an improvement in employment, the euro is likely to struggle as worries about what’s next for the 17-nation currency, and concerns about further difficulty, weigh.
At 13:39 GMT euro is struggling against its counterparts. EUR/USD is down to 1.3205 from the open at 1.3215. EUR/GBP is down to 0.8476 from the open at 0.8507. EUR/JPY is a little higher at 130.9700, up from the open at 130.0710.
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