The euro surged today against its major peers after the release of relatively positive macroeconomic data from the eurozone. Subsiding fears about Europe’s political issues were also helping the currency.
Eurozone gross domestic product rose 0.5% in the first quarter of this year, the same as in the previous three months and withing expectations. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany went up from 19.5 to 20.6 in May. While it was below expectations of 22.3, market participants considered the report to be generally optimistic.
At the start of this year, investors were worried about the upcoming elections in various European countries and how they may affect (and possibly disrupt) markets. Last week, fears abated somewhat after Emmanuel Macron won the French Presidential election. Today, concerns eased even further after Angela Merkel’s party won the election in the key German region, leading to belief that the German Chancellor will win the national vote in September.
EUR/USD jumped from 1.0974 to 1.1075 as of 13:30 GMT today, trading near the highest level since September. EUR/GBP advanced from 0.8507 to 0.8580. EUR/JPY climbed from 124.86 to 125.73, and the currency pair was hanging near the strongest level since April 2016.
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