Euro Continues Slide Against the US Dollar

The euro has depreciated in value to the US dollar over the past 24 hours, and has now reached its lowest point against the dollar in a month.

In the early hours of yesterday morning the euro peaked to just over the $1.072 mark, before it precipitated down to $1.06 today.

The euro has had a mini revival since that nadir, and has bounced back up to $1.063.

The fall comes after a hike against the dollar last week, as an interest rate rise in the US is expected when the Federal Reserve meets next month.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams has openly said that there is strong case for a rate rise.

He explained: “Assuming that we continue to get good data on the economy, continue to get signs that we’re moving closer to achieving our goals and gaining confidence in getting back to 2% inflation over the next couple year, if that continues to happen, there’s a strong case to be made in December to raise rates.”

Euro Up and Down Against the Pound

In contrast the euro has endured a roller coaster ride against the pound since yesterday morning.

The euro climbed to a peak of just under £0.702 before sinking to below the 0.699 level just before midday yesterday.

The euro then rose back up to the £0.702 mark as the afternoon progressed, although the euro was pushed back to  £0.6995, before being hiked up to just under the £0.702 mark past 6AM GMT.

Buyers of the euro have tended to make a move at the £0.7 mark, as the downward pressure continues.

The scope of the expected European Central bank stimulus package next month is likely to have a strong effect on the euro-pound relationship.

Major Asian Currencies Increase Against Euro

The euro has fallen against the Japanese Yen down to Y130.8 from Y131.8 yesterday morning.

This is despite the recent announcement that Japan has fallen back into recession, as official figures disclosed the their economy shrank by 0.8% in the third quarter for this year.

Against the Chinese Yuan the euro fell down to RMB6.77 this morning, having fallen from just over the RMB6.84 mark, in the early hours of yesterday.

Commodities lose ground on Euro

Gold and silver have been reduced in value compared to the euro, contrary to how the euro has fared against other major currencies.

An ounce of gold is 1,005.89, and has fallen by 0.70% today, silver has fallen further against the euro by 1.58% at 13.12 per ounce.

European Union Reports Current Account Surplus of EUR 15.9 billion

Eurostat figures have revealed that the whole of the European Union has a current account surplus totalling EUR15.9 billion for September.

This was higher than the EUR 13.8 billion surplus recorded in August, and the figure is also favourable year on year, as the surplus then was EUR 10.9 billion.

The surplus of the goods account grew by EUR 9.9 billion compared with EUR 7.5 billion last month, and the deficit of the primary income account fell by 0.3 billion  compared with EUR 1.8 billion for August.

In contrast, the surplus of the services account decreased from EUR 12.9 billion compared with EUR14.1 billion , and the deficit of the secondary income account increased slightly from minus EUR 6.5 billion compared with minus EUR6.1 billion.