euro-bank-notes - EUR
  • US Dollar (USD) eases after President Trump reopened negotiations for fiscal stimulus
  • US Dollar highlights need to covid relief package
  • Euro (EUR) rises despite ECB minutes showing concerns for economic growth
  • ECB could ease monetary policy further

The Euro US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate is advancing on Friday after a flat finish in the previous session. The pair settled at US$1.1758 on Thursday. At 05:15 UTC, EUR/USD trades +0.14% at €1.1775 towards the upper end of the trading range. Across the week the pair is set to gain 0.5% adding to gains of 0.7% the previous week.

The US Dollar is trading on the back foot after President Trump performed a U-turn over fiscal stimulus. The President once again supports a larger deal and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says negotiations are going well. The turnaround from Trump comes just days after he said he was pulling the plug on talks ahead of the elections.

The prospect of large-scale stimulus is boosting risk sentiment. Investors are buying into riskier assets and currencies whilst shunning the safe haven US Dollar.

The news comes after yesterday’s US jobless claims showed that 840K Americans signed up for unemployment benefit for the first time. This was only 9K down from the previous week and 20k higher than forecast. The data suggests that the US labour market recovery is running out of steam and requires additional stimulus to continue.

The risk on mood in the market is boosting the Euro. The common currency is charging higher despite rising concerns over a second wave of coronavirus hitting the old continent.

The minutes from the European Central Bank’s latest meeting showed that policy makers were more anxious over the economic recovery than initially assumed. Data this week, particularly out of Germany has been very mixed. On the one hand, factory orders surged by 4.4%, more than forecast. However, industrial production then unexpectedly declined. The data shows just how rocky the recovery is proving to be.

Expectations are growing that the ECB could consider additional monetary easing to support the economy.