The Euro fell to its lowest-level in nine-weeks against the Pound Sterling on Wednesday, but climbed to its highest-level in eight weeks against the US Dollar.
Against the Pound the Euro fell as investors look ahead to tomorrow’s Bank of England policy meeting.
Data released over the past quarter has painted a positive picture for the UK economy and with unemployment now under the BoE’s target of 7%, pressure is building upon policy makers to raise interest rates sooner than initially forecast.
Sterling received more good news on Wednesday as a report released by the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed that the number of new cars sold in the UK climbed by 8% compared to the previous year.
The data has prompted the SMMT to hike its sales forecast for 2014. It now expects over 2.4 million new cars to be sold in the UK.
The Euro to Pound exchange rate is in the region on 0.8205.
“As UK economic confidence improves still further and the market continues its upward trend, we have revised our 2014 forecast up from 2.3 million to over 2.4 million registrations. This represents an increase of more than 6% versus last year,” said the SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes.
The Euro fell as data out of France and Germany disappointed economists. Industrial production data out of France came in below forecasts and showed that production declined on both a monthly and yearly basis.
German data meanwhile showed that factory orders in the Eurozone’s largest economy fell sharply in March.
Against the US Dollar the Euro pushed higher as the US currency remained weak ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen’s testimony to Congress later in the session. The Euro to USD exchange rate has reached an eight week high and is currently trading around 1.3923.
Yellen is widely expected to reiterate that interest rates will remain on hold for longer, in spite of last month’s stronger-than-forecast U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
Euro to GBP update – 08/05/14
The Euro firmed against the Pound early in Thursday’s session as investors look ahead to the afternoons Bank of England and European Central Bank policy decisions. Both Central Banks are expected to leave interest rates and policy unchanged.
If the ECB does announce new stimulus measures we could see the Euro pushing above 1.40 against the US Dollar.
Euro Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3923 ,
Euro,, Pound Sterling,0.8205 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.4908 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5150 ,
Pound Sterling,,Euro,1.2188 ,
US Dollar,,Euro,0.7182 ,
[/table]
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