The latest manufacturing data out of the eurozone is helping the 17-nation currency today. The good news is providing a boost for the euro against its major counterparts as expectations for an improving economy increase.
Manufacturing in Italy, France, Spain, and Germany all showed improvement in the latest reports of PMI. Additionally, the purchasing managers index for the entire eurozone also contracted less that previously. While the eurozone PMI reports still show contraction, the contraction is smaller, and there are hopes that soon there won’t be any contraction at all.
The recent ECB rate cut is meant to help support the the eurozone economic recovery, and there are some hopes that it will start to work at a more rapid pace. Mario Draghi has indicated that negative deposit rates might be a possibility if the economy doesn’t pick up.
With the implication that the ECB really will do whatever is necessary to support the euro, the 17-nation currency looks ready for strength — at least for now — on the Forex market.
At 14:24 GMT EUR/USD is higher, moving up to 1.3022 from the open at 1.2994. EUR/GBP is also higher, moving up to 0.8524 from the open at 0.8544. EUR/JPY is a little bit lower, falling to 129.9845 from the open at 130.5250.
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