Euro Weakens Against the US Dollar

The euro’s decline against the US dollar since the end of last week has continued, as this morning GMT the greenback appreciated, leaving the euro buying $1.11.

Oil prices have climbed upwards in the past few days, leading the dollar to achieve more of a stable footing.

According to NASDAQ, crude oil has now increased to $34.58 a barrel, from a recent nadir of a little over $30 on February 10.

Some analysts also believe that the market pessimism over the US economy, that gripped many investors at the beginning of the year, was an inflated view of the situation.

Against the UK pound the euro also suffered a fall, despite beginning the morning brightly at buying just over £0.774, a peak over the past 24 hours.

Currently the euro is buying £0.770, having fallen below £0.77 this morning.

This is despite the continuing uncertainly of the UK’s relationship with the European Union (EU), as British Prime Minister David Cameron tries to negotiate for EU reform at a crucial meeting in Brussels.

Inflation Rises by 0.3% in the UK

Official figures have released positive data on inflation in the UK, as their consumer price index revealed the highest rise for a year of 0.3% for January.

This was an increase compared to the 0.2% rise that was recorded for December last year, and for the third month running there have been small increases in prices.

Inflation for January this year, was the same figure released for the same month in 2015.

The main influences behind the rise in prices was that petrol has increased, despite oil prices continuing to fall last month.

There was also a slight upswing in prices for t food, alcoholic beverages and clothing, although this was to a lesser extent than motor fuel.

Air fare prices partially offset the rise in costs , as they fell by more than what they did a year ago. This followed a surge in air prices for December.

Germany Reports Strong Employment Increase for Fourth Quarter Last Year

For the final quarter of last year, Germany can boast of a year on year employment increase of 412,000, a 1% rise.

Employment grew at a faster pace compared to the previous quarters for last year. In the first two quarters, the job rate grew by 0.7%, and the third quarter by 0.8%.

Compared with the third quarter, there was an rise of 0.4% of vacancies, a total of 189,000 now back in activity in the labour market.

For the final three months of last year, the most employment gains were found in business services, where 151,000 more positions were created.

They were followed by public services, education, health, where 145,000 more people were on the payroll in those sectors.

And trade, transport, accommodation and food services all employed 104,000 extra staff.

In industry excluding construction, employment was up by 18,000, and in construction it rose slightly by 1,000 year on year, compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

In agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of persons in employment decreased by 19,000.