The euro enjoyed a fine end to the week on Friday, by making some healthy gains against sterling and the dollar. Wednesday and Thursday losses against the dollar encouraged traders to take their profits before the weekend. The dollar will likely bounce back, especially with the ongoing concerns with the Italian budget row and possibilities of a no-deal Brexit.
There was only one release of note on the schedule, in the form of the current account for the eurozone, which showed a narrowed surplus of €20.5 billion in August compared with €34.7 billion in the same month the previous year.
Tomorrow we will have the flash consumer confidence reading for October, which is expected to slide to -3.1 from -2.9. On Wednesday, we will have a raft of purchasing managers’ indices from Germany and the eurozone, and on Thursday we will have the European Central Bank’s interest rate decision. While there will be no rate hike, it will be interesting to see if there is any change in sentiment.