Yesterday less-than-impressive German economic surveys triggered Euro declines. Although the common currency later recouped losses after Italy finally acquired a Prime Minister and developments in the US whetted risk-appetite, UK news has seen it stumble against Sterling this morning.
The Euro Exchange Rate was in the region of 0.8460 against the British Pound as of 11:40 am GMT
While economists expected the UK to narrowly avoid a triple dip recession by eking out growth of 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, GDP actually grew by 0.3 per cent.
After the growth data was announced the Pound climbed against the majority of its main currency rivals, advancing notably against the Euro and US Dollar.
However, although this result was significantly better than anticipated the UK’s path to economic recovery is still far from rosy. As Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg asserted: ‘That’s a better number than I think many people had been anticipating, but it’s one number for one quarter. We haven’t triple-dipped, so that’s obviously a welcome thing, but I don’t want anyone to think that we are out of the woods yet. We have still got a lot of work to do. The healing of the British economy is taking longer than we had anticipated and we will continue to work hard to make sure the country and the economy grow from strength to strength.’
The Euro’s declines against the Pound were exacerbated by the news that Spanish unemployment grew by more than expected, as the number of people out of work exceeded 6 million.
According to the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute, 27.2 per cent of the working-age Spanish population are now out of work. Economists had expected unemployment to increase to 26.5 per cent from the previous quarter’s 26.02 per cent.
After the news was announced one economist commented: ‘The pace of the increase is surprising given we were supposed to be in a softer phase of the recession. We could now end the year at 28 percent unemployment and we may see a downward revision of first-quarter growth.’
This negative news for the third largest economy in the Eurozone, coming after yesterday’s disappointing economic surveys for Germany, weighed on the EUR/GBP pairing during the European session.
Current Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
< Lower > Higher
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3062 >
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8460 <
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.2666 >
The Euro/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5299 <
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7658 <
The Pound Sterling /Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1823 >
The Australian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7894 <
The New Zealand Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6535 >
(Correct as if 11:40 am GMT)
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