The Euro has fallen by -0.6% against the US Dollar today but remains close to 2017’s highs on an event-packed day for the Eurozone and the US.
- EUR USD rate drops to 1.07 – USD EUR rises to 0.92
- Euro losses come as Brexit begins – ECB investigation adds to trader concerns
- US Dollar boosted by Trump’s Focus on jobs – Mining sector’s gains alarm environmentalists
- Euro recovery possible on Eurozone confidence stats – US Dollar could drop if GDP slows
In terms of solid Eurozone data, today has been positive so far, with Italian confidence figures rising above forecasts in March.
Less supportive, however, has been UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s initiation of Article 50 to begin the Brexit process.
This places great uncertainty on both the UK and the EU, but while the Pound has quickly recovered from any initial shock, Euro traders have been taking longer to process the possible outcomes of Brexit talks.
Additional pressure has come from Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog.
The organisation has singled out the European Central Bank (ECB) as a guilty party, stating that the ECB should leave a collection of bailout monitors due to prior bias during the Eurozone crisis.
Charting an opposite course to the Euro, the US Dollar has steadily appreciated against peers due to job-boosting moves from Donald Trump.
Aiming to fulfil his commitments to US voters, Trump has signed an order that repeals prior policy about limiting climate change.
This has been greeted with cheers from US fossil fuel miners, who have long struggled to operate under policy designed to protect the environment. While the move has inevitably drawn criticism from environmental groups due to its implications, Trump has boldly pledged that;
‘We can protect the environment while providing people with work’.
Despite recent Euro US Dollar losses, the EUR may be able to rebound on Thursday when Eurozone-wide confidence figures come out.
Covering confidence and sentiment scores across a range of sectors, rises are forecast for all areas bar industrial sentiment.
Conversely, the US Dollar may be poised to shed its current gains on Thursday when final Q4 GDP figures come out.
On the quarter, a slowdown from 3.5% to 2% is forecast, which may end up depleting confidence in the US Dollar despite the recent Trump boost.
Current Interbank EUR USD Exchange Rates
At the time of writing, the Euro to US Dollar (EUR USD) exchange rate was trading at 1.07 and the US Dollar to Euro (USD EUR) exchange rate was trading at 0.92.