First modification:
Negative US economic data and aggressive comments from the European Central Bank, ECB, led the euro to its best run in 9 months, trading at 1.8 to the dollar.
The euro rose to almost $1.08, a nine-month high, on the back of poor US economic data as well as hawkish comments from the European Central Bank on interest rates.
The ECB set the reference exchange rate for the euro at 1.08 dollars per euro this Wednesday, as a result of the fact that producer prices rose in the United States by 6.2% year-on-year in December, while retail sales fell in December by 1, 1%, more than expected.
The euro accelerated its appreciation after the publication of these disappointing economic figures for the US economy. The drop in inflation will allow the Federal Reserve of the United States, Fed for its acronym in English, to raise its interest rates less aggressively at its next meeting.
Earlier the euro rose after Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau commented that it is too early to speculate on the March interest rate decision.
Villeroy de Galhau lowered expectations that the ECB will raise interest rates by just a quarter of a percentage point and not half a point in March.
Also, during an intervention with Bloomberg TV in Davos, Villeroy de Galhau, who is a member of the ECB Governing Council, stated that the comments of the president, Christine Lagarde, who pointed to several increases of more than 50 basis points, were valid.
The euro appreciated below 1.08 dollars due to information on Tuesday that the ECB will raise the price of money by half a point in February, but that in March the rise would be less.
The chief economist of the ECB, Philip Lane, had said in an interview with the “Financial Times” that they are going to raise interest rates further until they are placed at a restrictive level, although he did not say how far.
The single currency was exchanged in a fluctuation band between 1.076 and 1.08 dollars during the day.
with EFE
