The common currency Euro is trading close to the $1.10 level ahead of the European Central Bank's policy decision. Analysts are expecting the ECB to keep its benchmark lending rate at the current level, while the deposit rate could see another move into negative territory with a 10 basis points reduction to -0.5% from -0.4%. What will be even more important is the Mario Draghi press conference after the formal announcement; analysts expect the ECB president to announce the restart of the QE stimulus program to give the Eurozone economy a boost.
The trading price of the EUR/USD pair at 10:53 am London time is $1.1028, up 0.1754%; the pair has ranged from a trough of $1.10053 to $1.10325 in today's session. The EUR/GBP is higher at 0.8943 Pence, a gain of 0.1646% an off the earlier peak of 0.89524 Pence.
EU Data Results Mixed
Eurozone data released earlier today was generally a mixed bag of outcomes. Inflation data in Germany was flat across the board, with the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices fixed at 1% in August. In France, the August CPI reading was higher at 1.3%, above an expected 1.2%, on an annual basis. In the Eurozone, Eurostat reported that industrial production was lower at -0.4% in July (on a month-over-month basis), off the -0.1 expected and the -1.4% of the previous month.