NEW! Investment Companies Centre

FX round-up: Euro hits 1-week low against dollar

News for Spread Betters

PreviousPrevious
NextNext

There's a new Investor Edition of CMC Markets' spread betting platform... and it's exclusive to DigitalLook.com users...

Get full details about Marketmaker:Investor Edition here. Advertisement

Date: Monday 07 Jul 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - The euro fell to a 1-week low against the dollar Friday as hopes of another interest rate hike in the euro zone faded.

The European Central Bank increased borrowing costs by a quarter percentage-point to 4.25% on Thursday, a move widely expected, but President Jean-Claude Trichet made no comments of further tightening by the central bank.

A US jobs report also dampened the euro Friday with the figures, while gloomy, came in not as bad as expected. The Labor Department said 62,000 jobs were cut in June the US while the unemployment rate unexpectedly remained at a four-year high of 5.5%.

Analysts said traders are already looking ahead to the G8 summit with sky-high oil prices and the declining dollar expected to be a focus.

Sterling also temporarily hit a 1–week low against the dollar in thin trading Friday, although it recovered some ground later in the session. A string of weak UK economic data has been weighing on sterling, and the latest out Thursday showed Britain's services sector slowed sharply last month.

Another survey out Friday showed that consumer spending power has fallen 15% in five years, and more worryingly the report suggested the worst is yet to come for consumers as utility prices rise by as much as 40% later this year while interest rates could be on the cards to control rising inflation.

Digital Look have been voted
"Best Research and Information Provider"

4th Floor, Bankside House, 107 Leadenhall Street, London EC3A 4AF.
Registered in England and Wales (registered no. 3678570).