European Session – Euro falls after weak German jobs data and slowing Eurozone growth
October 1, 2013 12:31 pm
The US government shutdown was the dominant news today and the main driver of the markets. The US dollar fell as soon as the news broke early Tuesday and remained under pressure by the European session.
Investors are reluctant to buy the dollar as the government shutdown would curb the economic recovery and prompt the Federal Reserve to maintain its stimulus program for longer.
The US Congress was unable to reach an agreement on a funding bill and resulted in the first shutdown in 17 years after a dispute over Obamacare (an affordable care law) between Republicans and Democrats.
USDJPY fell to 97.64 in the Europe trade, down from an earlier session high of 98.19 yen.
The euro weakened after disappointing economic data out of Europe today. German job market data was lower than expected in September, and factory growth slowed last month in some of the Euro zone’s biggest and most vulnerable economies, in Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Greece.
EURUSD dropped to $1.3534, down from an early European session high of $1.3587.
Sterling traded close to eight-month highs against the broadly weaker dollar. GBPUSD hit a high of $1.6259 and is current up around 50 pips so far today.
The pound was not affected by UK data which showed that manufacturing activity in the UK slowed slightly in September. The Manufacturing PMI however remained close to August’s two-and-a-half year highs.
The US government shutdown was the dominant news today and the main driver of the markets. The US dollar fell as soon as the news broke early Tuesday and remained under pressure by the European session.
Investors are reluctant to buy the dollar as the government shutdown would curb the economic recovery and prompt the Federal Reserve to maintain its stimulus program for longer.
The US Congress was unable to reach an agreement on a funding bill and resulted in the first shutdown in 17 years after a dispute over Obamacare (an affordable care law) between Republicans and Democrats.
USDJPY fell to 97.64 in the Europe trade, down from an earlier session high of 98.19 yen.
The euro weakened after disappointing economic data out of Europe today. German job market data was lower than expected in September, and factory growth slowed last month in some of the Euro zone’s biggest and most vulnerable economies, in Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Greece.
EURUSD dropped to $1.3534, down from an early European session high of $1.3587.
Sterling traded close to eight-month highs against the broadly weaker dollar. GBPUSD hit a high of $1.6259 and is current up around 50 pips so far today.
The pound was not affected by UK data which showed that manufacturing activity in the UK slowed slightly in September. The Manufacturing PMI however remained close to August’s two-and-a-half year highs.
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