The common currency edged up to a 1-week high versus the US Dollar today after hawkish commentary overnight from one European Central Bank policymaker helped to solidify bets that the economic outlook for the Eurozone remains robust. Sabine Lautenschlaeger of the ECB’s executive board commented that asset purchases should be rolled back next year. The Euro has seen some momentum loss over the past several days as a result of the political woes occurring in the Catalan region of Spain; for the past month, the EUR has lost more than 3% of its value relative to the Dollar.
As reported at 11:20 am (BST) in London, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.18, a gain of 0.45%; the pair earlier saw a peak of $1.18072 while the session low stands at $1.17380. The EUR/GBP was trading at 0.8939 Pence, a gain of 0.07%; the pair has ranged from a session low of 0.89240 Pence while the high is at 0.89500 Pence.
German Data Gives Euro Help
Economic data from Germany also helped lift the Euro; yesterday, the seasonally adjusted Industrial Production reading (month-over-month) surged to 2.6% in August, well above the 0.7% forecast by analysts. Earlier today, it was reported that both imports and exports rose in September, handily beating forecasts, while the current account balance was also better than analysts had predicted coming in at €17.8 billion.