The euro gained on the dollar today as the set of extremely positive macroeconomic reports for Europe reduced chances for the European Central Bank to add more stimulus at this week’s policy meeting. The currency fell a little versus the Japanese yen and retreated against the Great Britain pound.
Data from Spain was especially good, showing a drop of unemployment by as much as 111,600, more than twice the forecast amount. The Markit Spain Services Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed from 54.0 in March to 56.5 in April. Eurozone retail sales grew 0.3% in March from February instead of falling as was predicted by specialists.
The ECB will hold a monetary policy meeting on May 8. Economists were speculating that the central bank may consider some ways to provide additional support for the economy, but today’s reports suggest that such measures are perhaps unnecessary.
EUR/USD advanced from 1.3873 to 1.3927 as of 21:07 GMT today, reaching the high of 1.3950 intraday. EUR/JPY was down a little from 141.71 to 141.59 and EUR/GBP dropped from 0.8225 to 0.8204.
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