The euro today declined against the US dollar despite the release of mostly positive GDP data from across the euro area. The single currency had rallied higher during the Asian session, but retraced all its gains starting in the late Asian session up to the early European session.
The EUR/USD currency pair lost over 50 points to decline from a high of 1.2392 in the Asian session to a low of 1.2340 at the time of writing.
The currency pair continued to decline despite the release of positive German fourth quarter GDP data by the Federal Statistical Office. Germany’s GDP recorded 0.6% growth in the fourth quarter, which was in line with expectations, while the annualized GDP print exceeded market expectations by coming in at 2.3%, versus the expected 2.2% print. The release of the Italian Q4 GDP data also contributed to the decline by coming in at 0.3% versus the expected 0.4%, while the annualized print was recorded at 1.6%, which was lower than the expected 1.7%. The Eurozone Q4 GDP data released by Eurostat was in line with expectations by coming in at a quarterly 0.6% and an annualized 2.7%.
The Eurozone industrial production data for December also beat expectations by coming in at 0.4% on a monthly basis, which translated into an annualized 5.2% as compared to the expected 4.2% print.
The currency pair’s short-term performance is likely to be influenced by the release of the US consumer price index and retail sales data scheduled for later today.
The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.2343 as at 12:17 GMT having dropped from a high of 1.2392. The EUR/JPY currency pair was trading at 132.50 having declined from a high of 133.35.
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