By: Barbara Zigah
The Euro and other commodity-linked currencies earlier overnight gains as the Greek government edged further from a messy default. Earlier in the session, the Euro was trading against the U.S. Dollar at $1.3274, a gain of 1% which came on the back of news that Greece was close to securing its debt swap deal; more recently, and at 1:33 p.m. (JST), it still remains only a few pips away from that high. The Australian Dollar recovered slightly as well, trading higher at $1.0659 off of Thursday’s low of $1.0531.
Analysts say that the Euro could be on track to close out the trading week in positive territory, but that will also depend heavily on the outcome of today’s U.S. labor data which will be released at 1:30 p.m. (GMT).
One strategist in France says that the long term view for the EUR/USD pair is positive; that is based on a surprise reference by ECB chief Mario Draghi to higher inflation in the Eurozone which could suggest that any additional easing possibilities are now off the table. On the other hand, the Federal Reserve’s easing bias still seems firmly rooted in the board’s collective mind as a way to protect the economy and jobs against impending disaster.