Yesterday, the European Central Bank did as analysts expected it would and announced a 25 basis points rate cut of their benchmark lending rate; markets had been hopeful that the central bank would offer more though, and were disappointed as a result. Afterward, the Euro slipped and is now holding close to a 5-week low against the U.S. Dollar, while striking a record low against the Australian Dollar.
As reported at 10:19 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.2382, a decline of 0.1% but not far from the $1.2364 low struck yesterday. Against the Australian Dollar, the Euro was trading at A$1.2015. The Aussie had struck a 2-month high versus the U.S. Dollar, trading at $1.0330 before retreating with profit taking to $1.0259, a loss of 0.2%.
Markets focus will be on the U.S. government’s private sector payroll data which will be released later today, and could provide the Euro with some easing. Analysts are expecting that 90,000 new jobs will have been added last month. If the numbers are better than expected, that could put a damper on expectations of the Federal Reserve moving to a more accommodative stance. Analysts had revised their numbers upward in the past few hours following the ADP jobs data release which came in better than expected.