The eurozone recession is officially over, according to the latest quarterly data from from Eurostat. Even with the news, however, the euro continues to struggle against its major counterparts.
The numbers for the second quarter have been released, and Eurostat reports that the eurozone economy grew 0.3 per cent during the second quarter of 2013. Economists and analysts had expected 0.2 per cent growth, so the extra little bit was a welcome surprise. However, since some degree of growth was expected, the end to the eurozone recession has already been largely priced into the market.
Indeed, even though things have improved in the eurozone (led by better data in Germany and France), the euro is struggling a bit today. There is some risk aversion as some believe that some assets, like stocks, are overvalued to the same degree as they were just before the financial crash. This is causing a bit of concern amongst many investors and traders.
For the eurozone, though, the good economic news is likely to provide some support to the euro. While the recovery is likely to be slow going, it’s still a recovery.
At 14:11 GMT EUR/USD is down to 1.3257 from the open at 1.3263. EUR/GBP is down to 0.8541 from the open at 0.8585. EUR/JPY is down to 130.0855 from the open at 130.2450.
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