The EUR/USD currency pair today hit new lows mid-European session as the US dollar rallied against the single currency boosted by weak global oil prices. The currency pair hit a session low after the release of the US Advance goods trade balance for April, which was lower than expected.
The currency pair started the day’s session on an upward trend as the greenback extended losses incurred after the release of the FOMC minutes yesterday. However, the greenback started gaining against the euro as the markets priced-in lower global oil prices.
The weaker global oil prices affected the euro even as the OPEC oil ministers were meeting in Vienna to discus ways of reducing the global oil glut. The oil ministers agreed to weak global oil prices. Many OPEC ministers expressed confidence that oil prices would rise claiming the decline was temporary.
The EUR/USD pair hit new session lows after the Advance goods trade balance for April released by the Census Bureau increased to -$67.6 billion versus the expected -$64.5 billion and the previous -$65.1 billion. The initial jobless claims released by the Department of Labor also increased to 234,000 versus the previous 233,000 and the expected 238,000. The Advance goods trade balance for April also contracted by 0.3% in April versus the market consensus of a 0.2% increase.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be influenced by the raft of data due to for release tomorrow including the US GDP data.
The EUR/USD was trading at 1.1218 as at 16:52 GMT having dropped from a session high of 1.1250. The EUR/GBP was trading at 0.8657 having rallied from a daily low of 0.8637.
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