The euro today declined slightly against the US dollar after Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank President, made dovish comments in support of the bank’s quantitative easing program. Mario Draghi ignored comments made by Angela Merkel the German Chancellor earlier this week where she clearly stated that the ECB’s dovish policies were hurting the German economy.
The currency pair was trading in a 50 point range for much of European session, but edged slightly lower after Mario Draghi’s comments midway through the European session.
The EUR/USD currency pair declined slightly after Mario Draghi stated that the ECB’s quantitative easing program has proven effective so far, while speaking in Madrid, Spain. Germany’s GFK consumer confidence survey for May was released earlier in the day after which it boosted the single currency given that it exceeded expectations. The survey came in at 10.4 versus the expected and previous figure of 10.2. However, the dovish comments from various ECB speakers dampened the single currency’s performance.
The Chief ECB economist, Peter Praet, while speaking earlier today also said that the bank was waiting to see sustained inflation growth before amending its monetary policies. The ECB’s Financial Stability Review also revealed that the bank was concerned about reducing quantitative easing too early or too fast, which could lead create unfavorable economic conditions.
The currency pair’s performance is likely to be affected by the release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes scheduled for 18:00 GMT.
The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.1180 as at 16:%3 GMT having declined from a high of 1.1204 earlier today. The EUR/JPY was trading at 125.25 having opened the day’s session trading at 125.16.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Euro,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.
