[ad_1]
©Reuters. The euro hovers around 1.0750 dollars after weak economic data in the US
Frankfurt (Germany), May 24 (.).- The euro rose this Tuesday to almost 1.0750 dollars, a maximum for a month, after the publication of weak data from the US economy and due to signs of interest rate hikes in the European Central Bank (ECB).
The euro was trading at $1.0725 as of 3:15 p.m. GMT, versus $1.0660 in late European forex trading the previous day.
The ECB today set the reference exchange rate for the euro at $1.0720.
The President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Davos Forum (Switzerland) that when the ECB comes out of negative interest rates, rates could be at 0% or even slightly above.
These statements led to the belief that the ECB could raise interest rates by half a point in July or September.
Lagarde confirmed in a blog on Monday that the ECB will start raising rates in July and said the euro zone will exit negative interest rates by the end of the third quarter (the deposit facility is now at -0.50%). .
The governor of the Austrian National Bank, Robert Holzmann, was in favor of an interest rate hike of 50 basis points in July.
However, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Gallhau told Bloomberg TV in Davos that a half-point hike is not the consensus at the moment in the ECB Governing Council and that rate hikes will be gradual, which means quarter point increments.
“Euro zone economic growth remains robust in May thanks to the boom in the services sector and price pressures ease for the second month, although they remain high,” according to S&P Global (formerly Markit).
The flash of the composite index of the total activity of the euro zone, of the manufacturing and services sectors, stood at 54.9 points in May (55.8 points in April), registering its minimum of the last two months.
Activity in the US manufacturing sector has also fallen more than expected in May, according to S&P Global.
And new home sales fell in April notably in the US due to the rise in mortgage interest rates and the increase in prices.
The single currency was traded in a trading band between $1.0541 and $1.0747.
[ad_2]