020 7898 0500The euro fluctuated within a relatively narrow range this week in response to mixed data. The week started poorly for the single currency as French and German manufacturing data came through worse than expected – showing contraction for the French sector. European Central Bank president Mario Draghi also dampened performance by hinting that there may be a need for further refinancing operations in future. If further refinancing is needed this is likely to have a negative effect on the euro, although the effect of this announcement was limited by Draghi’s stand-off approach. The euro’s performance improved during Tuesday and Wednesday as first Business Climate data and then Consumer Confidence data both proved to be strong – with consumer confidence at its highest level since the 2008 crash. There were few surprises towards the end of the week as the seventeen-nation currency remained fairly steady against sterling and lost some ground against the US dollar. Today investors will be paying close attention to Draghi’s second address of the week. His words on Monday were pessimistic – should Draghi further play down the recovery in the Eurozone we can expect further euro weakness. Call your trader now to see how markets react to Draghi’s speech, German inflation data, and French consumer spending figures.
