Yesterday the euro was down slightly compared to the U.S. dollar, 1.321 to 1.325 dollars compared to last Friday, particularly affected by the disturbing news growing on Spain.
The Spanish economy has again contracted by 0.3% in real terms in the first quarter 2012 compared to the last of 2011, according to the National Statistics Institute, which confirms the country’s entry into recession.
‘Once again the Spanish ulcer is felt,” commented a London based trader, which also highlights the anti-austerity of this weekend. “In addition, Standard & Poor’s downgraded eleven among the …

Parity between the euro / dollar is now almost perfectly balanced on the currency market: at around 13:00 hours, the euro was trading at 1.3156 (- 0.01%). Slightly increased towards the yen to 106.9. Nothing to report in the forex market on the state of the euro / Swiss franc, which is stable at 1.2021.
‘We expect further depreciation of the euro exchange rate due to weak economic growth and greater uncertainty than those imposed on the United States”, wrote analysts at Barclays Capital yesterday, especially after the first round of …

The single currency was losing again today, dropping below $1.31 (EUR/USD) on Wednesday afternoon, amid persistent doubts about the sovereign status of Europe. At this time, the euro yield is 0.42% against the greenback at 1.3073 dollars per euro.
The IMF reviewed yesterday, downgrading its growth forecast for Spain in 2012, which shows a little less pessimistic for other countries in the euro area, and more confident than three the previous 3 months..
The research department considers however that significant downside risks remain, particularly in Europe where the case is far from …

The single European currency remained without a major trend against the U.S. dollar in the wake of a highly anticipated meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed, whose tone lately has been quite positive for the Dollar.
The Euro dropped yesterday afternoon from 0.04% to 0.8326 against the pound, but it has appreciated slightly against the Swiss franc (+ 0.23% to 1.2108).
However, the upward trend of the Euro against the Japanese Yen continues, while the Bank of Japan intervenes again to limit the strength of its currency.
Yesterday, the …

Market sentiment received a bit of a boost yesterday when the results of the ECB’s long-awaited second long-term liquidity operation (LTRO) showed strong demand for the cash from European banks. The ECB lent 800 banks €529.5 billion, somewhat above the €450 billion that the market had been anticipating and the €489 billion lent to 523 financial institutions at the central banks first three-year LTRO back in December. Overall, however, the reaction was generally muted with traders instead turning their attention to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s semi-annual testimony in the …

Today the euro remains firm versus the dollar and sterling, trading in relatively tight ranges despite the announcement from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s that it is cutting Greece’s long term credit trading to selective default. Such a move was already expected and indeed factored in, though yesterday’s comments from EU Commission President Barroso that eurozone leaders will not decide whether to boost the lending power of bailout funds at this week’s summit meeting could weigh on sentiment. Instead, they will just concentrate on sorting out the finer details of …