©Reuters. Euro falls below $1.08 after Lagarde’s dovish tone
Frankfurt (Germany), Apr 14 (.).- The euro depreciated this Thursday to its lowest level in two years, below 1.08 dollars, after the soft tone of the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagard.
The euro was trading at $1.0770 at around 1500 GMT, versus $1.0846 in late European forex trading the previous day.
The ECB set the reference exchange rate for the euro at 1.0878 dollars.
Due to the sharp rise in inflation, the Governing Council of the ECB confirmed that it will conclude the debt purchases in the third quarter of the year.
But Lagarde declined to say in which month, nor did she give any further hints as to when interest rates will begin to rise.
The ECB only reiterated that it will raise interest rates some time after the end of the debt purchases and that it will do so gradually.
Sales of retail trade in the United States (USA) grew by 0.5% in March, two tenths more than in the previous month, and its value has risen by 6.9% in one year.
The weekly number of applications for unemployment benefits in the United States rose to 185,000 last week, compared to 167,000 the previous week.
The single currency was traded in a trading band between 1.0757 and 1.0924.
