By: Barbara Zigah
The common currency Euro is under pressure in Asia today following yesterday’s ECB policy meeting. In spite of analysts’ predictions that Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the ECB would make no change to the current historic interest rate, market players remained hopeful of one and their hopes were dashed.
As reported at 11:35 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro was trading against the U.S. Dollar at $1.3625, sliding 1.2% from Thursday’s pricing and well off the 12-week peak struck Wednesday when the price hit $13862. One market strategist in Tokyo suggested that the market’s expectations were too high, and as a result, the Euro may fall further, even to $1.34.
Attention will be refocused to the United States, and the release of the non-farms payroll data, and new jobs growth of 145,000 private sector positions is what market players are expecting. The recently released ADP jobs report showed better than expected jobs creation, and unemployment claims fell sharply. Yesterday, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve confirmed that the Fed’s mandate to stabilize prices and ensure full employment is not yet a realization, but that the current policy appears to be working as evidenced by recent positive indicators.