by Pierre Wunsch, president of Belgium’s Banque Nationale, who said “We are waiting for wage growth and core inflation to go down... before we can arrive at the point where we can pause .”saying interest rates will rise at the May 4 meeting but whether beyond that depends on the data.
ECB President Christine Lagarde recently said there is still “some way to go” before Frankfurt is done with hiking interest rates. Unexpectedly strong first quarter earnings by US banks suggests the sector’s March crisis may be in the rear-view mirror, further supporting the Greenback. Alternatively, a break and daily close below the key lower high at 1.0830 would bring into doubt the validity of the uptrend and could see losses extend down to a confluence of support at 1.0775-1.0800, marking a possible reversal of the dominant trend. The Euro is the currency for the 20 European Union countries that belong to the Eurozone. It is the second most heavily traded currency in the world behind the US Dollar.
The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy decisions at meetings held eight times a year. Decisions are made by heads of the Eurozone national banks and six permanent members, including the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.Eurozone inflation data, measured by the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices , is an important econometric for the Euro.
Economic data for the four largest economies in the euro area are especially significant, as they account for 75% of the Eurozone’s economy.Another significant data release for the Euro is the Trade Balance. This indicator measures the difference between what a country earns from its exports and what it spends on imports over a given period.