By: Barbara Zigah
Finance ministers from the Euro Zone will be meeting later today to discuss with Jean-Claude Juncker, the Eurogroup chairman, their concerns about the Euro-zone’s recovery, given the single currency Euro’s recent continued rise. With that question foremost on their minds, investors took the opportunity to trim long positions, forcing the Euro to retreat from multi-month peaks versus the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese Yen. Since the beginning of the year, the Euro’s appreciation versus the U.S. currency has been nearly 6%; late last week, it hovered close to $1.50.
As reported at 2:21 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, versus the U.S. Dollar, the Euro traded at $1.4875, a decline of .2% from late Friday’s trade, while against the Japanese Yen, the Euro traded at 135.15 Yen, a loss of .3%, though it had at one point in the day traded at 134.76 Yen; Friday, the Euro traded at 136.07 Yen, the highest in nearly 2-months. The U.S. Dollar gained back some earlier losses in Friday’s trading, following the news from the Bank of America of a substantial loss in the 3rd quarter of 2009. U.S. consumer confidence appears to, once again, be waning, and the U.S. currency is benefiting from a decrease in demand for risk.
The U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback’s strength versus a group of major currencies, rose .1% to trade at 75.554 .DXY. More U.S. earnings reports are expected out this week, including those from Apple, Inc. and Caterpillar, and until the reports are released, investors are expected to remain cautious.
Euro Retreats from Multi-month Peaks
After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.