The Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate has been trending higher in Thursday’s European trading after the European Central Bank (ECB) released its latest meeting minutes and investors speculated about the outcome of negotiations between Greece, its creditors and Russia.
There are rumours flying all over the currency market regarding Greece’s upcoming meeting with Russia next week and many experts have suggested Greece is attempting to get in bed with Russia for financial aid if talks between Eurozone financial heads take a turn for the worse.
However, it’s hard to say how talks between Greece and Eurozone finance ministers are going when so little progress appears to be made.
European Central Bank (ECB) official and Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann has warned on Thursday that Greece is running out of time. Furthermore, there’s the potential that Greece’s upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) repayment won’t be made as the nation burns through its emergency funds as negotiations continue to drag on.
Weidmann stated: ‘If a Euro area member state decides that it no longer intends to fulfil its obligations and ceases to make payments to its bond holders, then a disorderly insolvency is, indeed, inevitable. The economic and social repercussions for Greece would be severe and certainly not a desirable option.’
Additionally, the European Central Bank (ECB) released minutes on Thursday which stated that the central bank was concerned that geopolitical tensions from outside of the Eurozone could hinder Eurozone economic growth and cause the quantitative easing programme to stumble.
"#Greece, as a member of the #EU, can be a link and a bridge between the West and #Russia" ~Kremlin official to Tass
— Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) April 2, 2015
Will US Non-Farm Payrolls Boost US Dollar to Euro (USD/EUR) Exchange Rates?
Meanwhile, the US Dollar had a mixed week this week with conflicting employment data emerging. Wednesday’s ADP Employment Change ecostat came in at only 189K in March, far below the 225K forecast.
However, Thursday took a slight upswing when Initial Jobless Claims dipped below the 285K prediction to reach only 268K in the week through March 28th while Continuing Claims sat at 2325K in the week through March 21st.
Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) Exchange Rate Forecast
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate is likely to experience major swings on Friday with the release of US Unemployment Rate and Change in Non-Farm Payrolls stats. The reason employment data has been so keenly eyed this week is an attempt to forecast Friday’s outcome.
The European markets will be closed for Easter on Friday and Monday lending a lot of Euro movement to global developments.
The US Dollar to Euro (USD/EUR) exchange rate is trading at 0.9195; the Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate is trending in the region of 1.0876.
