The euro today broke out of a consolidative phase against the US dollar in the early European session as concerns regarding Italy and the global equity markets selloff weighed on the single currency. The EUR/USD currency pair later found a floor just before the release of the latest US GDP growth data in the early American session and rallied slightly on the news.
The EUR/USD currency pair today declined from a high of 1.1383 to a low of 1.1334 before retracing some of its losses.
The first trigger behind the currency pair’s decline was the equity markets sell-off that persisted through the Asian market and spilled over into the European markets. The standoff between Italy and the European Union regarding the country’s budget also served the weaken the single currency. The release of the positive German GfK consumer confidence survey earlier in the session triggered a brief rally by the currency pair. The release of the European Central Bank’s survey of professional forecasters also had a slight positive impact on the pair.
The release of the US GDP growth data for the third quarter by the Bureau of Economic Analysis had the opposite impact on the pair as it rallied higher after the announcement. This was despite the fact that the GDP print came in at 3.5% beating expectations by 0.2%.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by Mario Draghi‘s speech and the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey both scheduled for later today.
The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.135 as at 13:52 GMT having recovered from a low of 1.1334. The EUR/JPY currency pair was trading at 127.07 having declined from a high of 127.84.
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