The euro got beat up in yesterday's trading as risk aversion dominated market sentiment. It finished 56 pips lower against the dollar at 1.2971 and suffered an 88-pip loss to the yen at 101.61.
Skepticism over Spain's balance sheets continued to haunt the euro. EU finance ministers met yesterday and they reiterated that the country doesn't need a bailout. With a major bond auction coming up at the end of the month, investors are worried if Spain could find enough demand at relatively low yields for its bonds.
Heck, market junkies are so worried about the fourth largest economy in the euro zone, they shrugged off the official inauguration of the ESM. Yup, you read that right. The permanent rescue fund is now operational with a financial capacity of 200 billion EUR to replace the EFSF.
Of course, it didn't help that mixed economic data hit headlines too.
Although Germany reported a much smaller contraction at 0.5% of its industrial production for August versus the -0.7% forecast, the Sentix Investor Confidence index fell short of expectations. The figure for October printed at -22.2 indicating that investors are more pessimistic about economic conditions in the euro zone that analysts predicted with the consensus just at -20.6.
Our forex calendar is blank for top-tier data from the euro zone today. However, with the ECOFIN meetings still ongoing and ECB President Mario Draghi scheduled to speak later (7:30 am GMT), keep an ear out for updates regarding Spain! I have a feeling that more denials about the country's need for a bailout would only do more harm than good to the euro.
0 comment(s):
Post a Comment