The euro rallied higher against its main counterparts today after the European Central Bank Governor’s speech on the bank’s rate decision. Mario Draghi‘s speech was a commentary on the ECB’s future outlook after it announced that it would maintain its current interest rates and its quantitative easing program.
The EUR/USD currency pair rallied by over 90 points during and after Mario Draghi’s speech as he took on a slightly hawkish tone.
The EUR/USD currency pair recorded minimal change after the ECB announced that it would maintain its interest rates at 0.00%, its marginal lending facility at 0.25% and its deposit rate facility at -0.40%. The bank also announced that it would maintain its asset purchase program at â¬60 billion. There was no surprise in the ECB’s monetary policy decision as the markets expected the same. However, the markets reacted positively to Mario Draghi’s speech at the press conference held at 14:30 GMT where he announced that the ECB would consider QE tapering in September.
The euro was stronger against the US dollar despite the positive initial jobless claims data released today by the Department of Labor. The initial claims came in at 233,000 versus the expected 245,000. However, the US Philadelphia Fed manufacturing business outlook survey disappointed as it was recorded at 19.5 versus the expected 23.0.
The euro’s future performance is likely to be affected by the release of the ECB’s survey of professional forecasters scheduled for tomorrow.
The EUR/USD was trading at 1.1589 as at 14:24 GMT having rallied from 1.1477 prior to the speech. The EUR/JPY was trading at 130.02 having rallied from a low of 128.73 earlier today.
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