Friday, 11 December 2009

Euro is continuing to trade well below its 1.50 recent highs, under pressure from the financial health of certain eurozone nations

With little new information for the markets to take direction from yesterday, the euro/dollar pair held in range, eventually closing little changed from Wednesday's closing price.
  • The single currency did post slight gains in the early afternoon session after a narrower-than-expected US trade deficit for October reduced safe-haven demand for the greenback.
  • Data revealed that the US trade deficit narrowed in October to $32.94 billion from the $35.65 revised deficit in September, and against market expectations of an increase to around $37 billion.
  • However, this was offset by US weekly jobless claims, which rose last week by 17,000 to 474,000, more than twice the market consensus of an increase by about 8,000 claims.
  • Ongoing concerns over the fiscal health of Greece and Spain also capped gains on the single currency.
  • Despite the higher-than-expected claims, the US equity markets traded on a positive note yesterday, which buoyed risk demand and enabled the euro to recover back over 1.47.

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