Euro Shows Mixed Trading Against Majors
In early European deals on Friday, the euro showed mixed trading against its major counterparts ahead of the German factory orders report for January, which is due at 6:00 am ET. While the euro gained against the dollar, it pared some recent gains against the yen and the pound. Against the franc, the euro traded in a tight range.
Economists expect Germany’s factory orders to surge 15.4% year-on-year, accelerating from the 8.4% increase a month ago. On a monthly basis, factory orders are forecast to rise 1.3%.
The euro bounced between 1.4628 and 1.4633 against the Swiss franc in early deals on Friday. The pair is now trading near Thursday’s close of 1.4631.
The euro eased after reaching highs of 0.9051 against the pound at 2:30 am ET and 121.50 against the yen at 3:05 am ET Friday. As of now, euro is worth 121.35 against the yen and 0.9042 against the pound, compared to yesterday’s close of 120.93 and 0.9038, respectively.
The euro strengthened to 1.3608 against the dollar at 4:10 am ET Friday. The euro then eased but bounced back shortly and the pair is currently worth 1.3595. The euro-dollar pair closed Thursday’s North American session at 1.3587.
Investors focus now turn toward the U.S. non-farm payroll report, which is due at 8:30 am ET, to assess the strength of the current recovery on the world’s main economy. Economists estimate that the U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs in February and expect the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 9.8%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to release its monthly consumer credit report at 3 pm ET.
