020 7898 0500Yesterday’s Eurozone economic data releases did little to affect the performance of the single currency. Italian services data was worse than expected, Spanish services data was better and the Eurozone Retail Sales figures came out largely as expected, meaning that movements in euro rates occurred largely as a result of events elsewhere. More notably, events in the UK and the US caused the euro to weaken against both sterling and the US dollar.
This morning sees the release of German Factory Orders figures. Last month we saw evidence of a decrease in production as factory orders were down 1.7%. However, today’s data is expected to show a minor increase, which may have a small impact on euro performance. Italian quarterly growth data is set to be released this morning and is forecast to show negligible growth in the southern European state. These releases have the potential to spur smaller movements in rates, but it is likely to be the impending European Central Bank (ECB) meeting and subsequent activity on Thursday that determines short term euro performance.
