The euro today posted a significant decline against the US dollar after the release of US inflation data as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures. The euro was on a downtrend against the greenback from the Asian session due to the positive investor sentiment towards the US dollar.
The EUR/USD currency pair declined by over 80 points from its opening high of 1.2432 to hit a low of 1.2346 at the time of writing.
The currency pair opened today’s session on a downtrend after Klaas Knot, a member of the European Central Bank‘s Governing Council stated that the bank should terminate its asset purchases program as it had fulfilled its purpose. The currency pair had a muted reaction to comments made early in the European session by the ECB members Sabine Lautenschlager and Peter Praet. The performance of the currency pair was driven by the positive sentiment around the greenback given the empty European economic docket.
The release of the US PCE data for December by the Bureau of Economic Analysis further accelerated the pair’s decline. The core PCE print came in at 0.2% on a monthly basis and at 1.5% on an annualized basis; both prints were in line with expectations. The real personal spending was lower than expected by coming in at 0.3%, versus the expected 0.4%. Personal income was higher than expected at 0.4% as compared to the market consensus of 0.3%.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by tomorrow’s Eurozone GDP data and US consumer confidence index.
The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.2363 as at 15:13 GMT having dropped from a high of 1.2432. The EUR/JPY currency pair was trading at 134.52 having declined from a daily high of 135.34.
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