Euro up from three-month low before ECB meeting

14 Sep 2023

On Thursday, the Euro moved away from close to a three-month low against the Dollar ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) rate-setting meeting.

The single currency gained 0.21% to $1.07515, continuing its upward move from last week’s low of $1.0686.

Whereas the Dollar index – measuring the currency against six rivals – moved 0.16% lower to 104.56 at the time of writing, Reuters reports.

In addition, the greenback fell 0.22% to 147.105 Yen, away from last week’s high of 147.875.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell another 1.3 basis points to 4.235% on Thursday, prolonging a 1.6 basis point drop from the previous session, when it hit a three-week high of 4.352%.

Meanwhile, analysts forecast a 60% chance the ECB will announce a rate hike on Thursday. This follows a Reuters report showing the bank forecasts inflation will remain above 3% in 2024, surpassing the 2% target.

Whilst in the US, the Federal Reserve’s November meeting will be a “pivotal event”, with rising crude oil prices fuelling the risk of another hike and likely boosting the Dollar, according to Convera senior corporate foreign-exchange dealer James Kniveton.

“It is premature to assert that USD bears have assumed control,” he said.

Whereas a rate rise by the ECB “could potentially catalyse a shift in momentum, relegating the Dollar to a secondary position as the Euro gains traction,” he added.

Elsewhere, the Australian Dollar rose 0.54% to its highest since 5th September at $0.64545, following jobs data showing the economy added 64,900 jobs in August.

That said, 62,100 of these jobs were part-time, which led to a fast retracement of those gains.

Yet later in the day, the Aussie Dollar had moved up 0.33% to $0.64425.