© Reuters.
Por Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com – The dollar loses positions at the start of trading this Friday in Europe, but remains well supported after another strong sell-off in U.S. equities on Wednesday curbed interest in risk assets around the world. .
At 9:00 AM ET, the , which tracks this currency against a basket of six other majors, is down 0.1% to 95.67, but remains on course for a gain of around 0.5% in a week dominated by fears of inflation, rising interest rates and, finally, signs of an impending downturn for the US economy due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Initial jobless claims hit three-month highs last week, while disappointing results from the banking sector and, on Thursday, from Netflix (NASDAQ:) have cast doubt on the prevailing growth narrative of the past two months. years.
Geopolitical concerns also limit risk appetite, with US President Joe Biden warning on Wednesday that he believes Russia will invade neighboring Ukraine again. The Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, will meet this Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to hold talks in order to calm the situation. The is unchanged at 76.64 per dollar, but is down more than 3.5% this week.
The trading day in Europe starts on a gloomy note as the UK has seen a sharp drop in both retail sales and consumer confidence amid rising Covid cases and consumer energy costs. homes. The GfK confidence index has registered its lowest level since February, while retail sales fell 3.7% in December. Figures for November have also been revised downwards.
Analysts say the figures likely reflect a change in spending patterns due to the pandemic, with consumers doing their holiday shopping earlier than usual due to fears of product shortages. October sales had been exceptionally strong.
“Total consumer spending may not decline this year, given high levels of savings and leeway to catch up in certain service categories,” says ING economist James Smith in a note to the clients. “But retail seems more vulnerable, especially after two years of above-average product spending. The latest decline in consumer confidence is a possible red flag.”
The pound is down 0.2% to the $1.3565 level, and is also down 0.4% against the euro in response. The euro, meanwhile, rose 0.2% to $1.1362, having lost 1.5 cents against the dollar this week as the gap between the ECB’s and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy widened. The president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, has once again taken a step back on the issue of the anticipated rise in interest rates in her speech on Thursday, despite the fact that general inflation in the eurozone exceeds 5%, its lowest level. high since the creation of the single European currency.
