It was a case of the best of times and the worst of times for the single currency. The euro strengthened against NOK and SEK but weakened against every other major currency yesterday, including very marginally against USD.
While the euro had been buoyed over the course of Sunday evening by the defeat of Marine Le Pen yesterday, it was also supported by a boost in German business confidence, when the Ifo Business Climate for April in Germany hit 91.8 – well above expectations. So was Construction Output for February across the eurozone. However, overall this was not enough to overcome general pessimism for business across Europe, as the region’s largest oil exporter wages war on the region’s largest food exporter.
There is a dearth of data today, but tomorrow another measure of German business confidence – from GfK – is likely to perk interest. Look out, too, for a mass of GDP, industrial and inflation data from across the eurozone on Thursday and Friday.
