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© Reuters. Euro rises to $1.0890 after US data and ECB comments
Frankfurt (Germany), Jan 18 (.).- The euro rose this Wednesday to almost $1.0890, the highest in nine months, after the publication of disappointing economic data from the US and aggressive comments from the European Central Bank (ECB). .
The euro was trading around 4:00 p.m. GMT at $1.0840, compared with $1.0803 in the final hours of European currency market trading the previous day.
The ECB set the reference exchange rate for the euro at $1.0839.
Producer prices rose in the US in December by 6.2% year-on-year (7.3% in November) and retail sales fell by 1.1% in December, more than expected.
The euro accelerated its appreciation after the publication of these disappointing economic figures for the US economy.
The drop in inflation will allow the Federal Reserve (Fed) to raise interest rates less aggressively at its next meeting.
Earlier the euro rose after Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said it is too early to speculate on the March interest rate decision.
Villeroy de Galhau lowered expectations that the ECB will raise rates by only a quarter point and not a half point in March.
Also, in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos, Villeroy de Galhau, who is a member of the ECB’s Governing Council, said that the comments of the president, Christine Lagarde, in December that pointed to several increases of more than 50 basis points were valid. .
The euro had depreciated below 1.08 dollars due to information released on Tuesday, also by Bloomberg, according to which the ECB will raise the price of money by half a point in February, but that in March the rise would be less.
But the chief economist of the ECB, Philip Lane, had said in an interview with the “Financial Times” that they are going to raise interest rates further until they are placed at a restrictive level, although he did not say how far they are going to increase them.
The single currency was exchanged in a fluctuation band between 1.0766 and 1.0883 dollars.
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