The Euro steadied against the US Dollar and held below the recently struck 3-week peak as the first round of the French presidential voting nears. Recent polling continues to suggest that Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron will move into the next round of voting. Analysts caution, however, that if Marine Le Pen does, in fact, make it through the Euro is likely to see a significant impact, given her far-right leanings. Given the unexpected votes in the Brexit referendum last June and the Trump win in November’s US Presidential election, investors are wary of another surprise.
As reported at 10:57 am (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.0717, flirting with the opening price. On Thursday, the pair had hit a peak of $1.0778, a price not seen since the end of March. The EUR/GBP was also just off its opening price at 0.8373 Pence, a gain of 0.011%.
Dollar’s Momentum Lackluster
The US Dollar Index was relatively unchanged at 99.815 .DXY, ahead of a slew of economic data due out for release later today. On Thursday, continuing jobless claims for the first week of April fell unexpectedly but were tempered by an unanticipated rise in new claims for unemployment insurance. Later today, preliminary PMI figures for the US will be released, as will housing data including existing home sales for the month of March.