The euro rallied today, rising against the US dollar and the Japanese yen, as it largely ignored Europe’s macroeconomic indicators that were poor for the most part. With that said, the shared 19-nation currency trimmed its gains against the Great Britain pound (though it was rather the result of sterling’s strength rather than euro’s weakness) and slid versus the Swiss franc.
Eurozone annual inflation slowed to 1.4% in May, down from 1.9% in April, falling below the forecast level of 1.5%. Seasonally adjusted German retail sales dropped by 0.2% in April instead of rising by 0.4% as analysts predicted. Among few positive surprises was eurozone unemployment that fell unexpectedly from 9.4% to 9.3% in April.
Yet all the underwhelming reports were unable to keep the euro from rising. Market analysts speculated that this is because traders expect the European Central Bank to discuss stimulus exit at its next policy meeting. The event is scheduled for June 8.
EUR/USD rallied from 1.1184 to 1.1236 as of 15:35 GMT today. EUR/JPY gained from 142.48 to 142.75, bouncing from the session low of 141.46. At the same time, EUR/CHF dropped from 1.0901 to 1.0874.
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