Euro Area Unemployment Hits New High

Euro Area Unemployment Hits New High

The euro (EUR) is strengthening against most of its major counterparts, after a minor collapse following yesterday’s release of yet another record high unemployment rate and rumours that France was to be downgraded. These rumours were officially refuted by the French Finance Ministry. These developments add a new twist and interest on the European Central Bank (ECB) President interest rate decision and press conference tomorrow, where market participants speculate that ECB will refrain from indicating additional interest rate cuts.

News, that Japan will buy European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bonds, using their foreign exchange reserves had temporarily helped improve the market sentiment for the single currency. The market is becoming more and more active as we approach the highlights for this week; the interest rate decision by Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank (ECB) due tomorrow.

The US dollar (USD) is rising against the Japanese yen (JPY) as financial markets appear reluctant to let go of their conviction that the new government in Japan will pursue and deliver a weaker yen. The 87.35 level appears as a short term support where a new rally could be launched from.

The US Tech (NDQ) tracking the NASDAQ-100, plunged yesterday from a high 2724.13 to as low as 2698.13. This drop happened within the first 2 hours of the US market opening but the technology companies index managed to pull itself back and is now trading 2716.63.