Eur/usd - page 157

 

EU raises pressure on Moscow with tougher sanctions

The European Union tightened sanctions on Russia on Friday over its role in the Ukrainian conflict, restricting access to financing for top Russian banks, defense and energy firms and freezing the assets of senior politicians and rebel leaders.

The United States was set to follow suit with its own tougher sanctions later on Friday, heaping pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and sent troops to back pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

However, the drive for tougher EU sanctions faces growing opposition from a number of EU countries that fear retaliation from Russia, the bloc's biggest energy supplier.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the EU was "choosing the path of disrupting the peace process", and that Moscow would respond "calmly, appropriately and, most of all, from the need to protect our interests", the Interfax agency reported.

In a move to assuage critics, the EU has said it could lift some or even all of the sanctions within weeks - if Moscow abides by a fragile truce in Ukraine and respects a peace plan.

Publishing the latest sanctions list in the EU's Official Journal, EU governments said it was "appropriate to take further restrictive measures in response to Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine".

Russia has already banned all imports of food from the United States and all fruit and vegetables from Europe in response to previous Western sanctions.

Its response to the latest Western sanctions may include caps on used car imports and other consumer goods, a Kremlin official was quoted as saying on Thursday.

At the same time as stepping up sanctions, the EU will offer Russia more time to adjust to a European trade pact with Ukraine at Brussels talks on Friday, diplomats say, moving to ease tensions over an accord at the center of the Ukraine crisis.

source

 

EUR/USD rises after U.S. retail sales but gains capped

The euro rose against the U.S. dollar on Friday, after the release of positive U.S. retail sales data but gains were expected to remain in check amid speculation the U.S. will raise interest rates sooner than expected.

EUR/USD hit 1.2955 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2952, rising 0.23%.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.2858, the low of September 9 and a 14-month low and resistance at 1.2986, the high of September 5.

Official data showed that U.S. retail sales rose 0.6% last month, in line with expectations. Retail sales for July were revised to a 0.3% gain from a previously estimated flat reading.

Core retail sales, which excludes automobiles, increased by 0.3% in August, in line with market expectations and following a 0.3% gain in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.1% rise.

The data came amid expectations for an early hike in U.S. interest rates after a study by the San Francisco Federal Reserve published on Monday indicated that central bank officials see rates rising sooner than markets expect.

The Fed was expected to cut its asset purchase program by another $10 billion at its upcoming policy meeting next week which would keep it on track for winding up the program in October, and to start raising interest rates sometime in mid-2015.

Earlier Friday, official data showed that euro zone industrial production rose 1.0% in July, exceeding expectations for a 0.5% gain, after a 0.3% fall in June.

Sentiment on the single currency remained vulnerable after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut rates to record lows across the euro zone last week and unveiled new easing measures in a bid to shore up the faltering recovery and boost inflation.

The euro was also higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP adding 0.11% to 0.7966.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release closely watched preliminary data on consumer sentiment.

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EUR / USD continued tomove slowly, remaining between the support line of 1.2860 (S1) and thepsychological barrier of 1.3000 (R1).The MACD remained higherafter crossing above its signal line, while the positive divergence between theRSI and price movement is still in effect.

 

ECB’s Coene Welcomes Falling Euro in Stagnation Fight

The European Central Bank welcomes the euro’s decline as it helps spur inflation and boosts the economic recovery, Governing Council member Luc Coene said.

“The fact that the exchange rate is moving down is certainly not a source of concern for anybody,” Coene said in an interview in Brussels yesterday. “On the contrary, under present circumstances it’s rather helpful.”

While the ECB doesn’t have an exchange-rate target, officials have said a strong currency undermines efforts to boost inflation that is running at a fraction of their goal. Politicians from countries including France and Spain have called for a devaluation that would aid their economies by making exporters more competitive.

The euro slid below $1.30 last week for the first time in more than a year after ECB President Mario Draghi unexpectedly cut interest rates and announced an asset-buying program. The shared currency traded close to the lows of the day after the comments were published, and was at $1.2936 at 4 p.m. Frankfurt time. A weaker currency helps lift consumer prices by increasing the cost of imports.

“One of the major impacts we sought with our decisions was on the exchange rate and that has really helped a lot because it is one of the channels through which you can increase inflation,” said Coene, 67, who also heads Belgium’s central bank. “The exchange rate is the fastest instrument channel of transmission to inflation expectations. That’s obvious because you see an immediate impact.”

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price again fell under 1.2950 the side wave of 1.2900-1.2950 still stands let's see what is going to happen on Monday.

 

I think today headline is : ECB is not controlling Euro, and they have no idea who does

 
morro:
I think today headline is : ECB is not controlling Euro, and they have no idea who does

Probably people from UK at these days are the ones influencing the most the rate of Euro to USD - a lot of GBP converted to anything else - people do not want to risk to lose a lot because of Scottish independence voting. Guess that if the vote will be no, we shall see the inverted process. But if it will be yes, all hell can happen

 

EUR/USD forecast for the week of September 15, 2014

The EUR/USD pair fell during the course of the week, but found the 1.2850 level to be supportive enough to turn things back around and form a nice-looking hammer. This suggests that the market is going to bounce from here, and therefore on a break above the 1.30 level, we are buyers of this marketplace. We think that the market goes to the 1.3350 region at that point in time, and possibly even higher. On the other hand, if we break down below the 1.28 level, things get nasty and we start selling heavily.

source

 

EURUSD had a dramatic week, falling once again and losing the 1.30 psychology level as the ECB surprised with strong measures. Will we see more falls or can a correction be expected now?

 

Show us the money: EU seeks billions of euros to revive economy

The European Union sought ways on Saturday to marshal billions of euros into its sluggish economy without getting deeper into debt, considering options from a pan-European capital market to a huge investment fund.

With Europe's economy struggling to recover from the worst financial crisis in a generation, EU finance ministers tasked the European Commission, the EU executive, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to draw up a list of projects that would create growth and decide how to finance them.

"We have given a mandate to the Commission and the EIB to swiftly present an initial report on practical measures that can be taken, on profitable investment projects that are justifiable," Italy's economy minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, told a news conference.

Ministers are expected to discuss the projects and investment tools at their next meeting in Luxembourg in October.

There were no details of what those projects might be.

To finance them, the ministers discussed four ideas: an Italian paper on new financing tools for companies, a Franco-German proposal on how to boost private investments, a Polish proposal on creating a joint EU fund worth 700 billion euros ($907 billion) and a call from incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for a 300-billion euro investment program to revive the European economy.

The European Central Bank's plan to resurrect a market for asset-backed securities would be another financing tool.

"We don't have a magic wand but we need growth, we need to stimulate demand without taking on debt," France's finance minister, Michel Sapin, told reporters after the gathering in Milan. "We need the right mix of public and private money."

The European Union's economy, which generates about a quarter of global output, grew by just 0.1 percent last year and its jobless rate is almost double that of the United States, with around 25 million people unemployed.

Investment is the new buzz word among ministers, overriding the German mantra of budget cuts. Germany is under pressure from France and Italy to loosen the fiscal reins and use its overflowing government coffers to ramp up public investment.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble strongly supports the search for investment, but this week rebuffed calls for Berlin to spend more to boost the euro zone economy, which showed no growth in the April-to-June period.

The euro zone will grow again in the third quarter but full-year growth will be below 1 percent, ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said after the meeting.

In a speech to the EU finance ministers in Milan on Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi described business investment as "one of the great casualties" of the financial crisis, saying it has fallen 20 percent since 2008.

"We will not see a sustainable recovery unless this changes," he said.

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