The Euro climbed to a three-week high against the US Dollar and Pound on Thursday despite the release of a number of data reports which raised concerns over the Eurozone’s economic health.
A report showed that unemployment in Greece climbed to a new record high of 28% in November. Staggeringly youth unemployment soared yet again to another new record high of 61.4%. The data reinforced fears that the Eurozone crisis remains in full force in the embattled nation. The report also showed that the number of people out of work now outnumber those in employment.
According to statistics group Elstat there is 3,550,679 people in work in Greece, 382,062 unemployed and a further 3,376,643 classed as inactive.
The report shows that unemployment in the country has jumped over 200% since 2008. In recent months Elstat has claimed that the unemployment rate in Greece had stabilised, but today’s data shows that it climbed to previously unseen levels.
A separate report showed that inflation eased in Germany increasing concerns that the European Central Bank will introduce negative rates to tackle the threat of deflation.
Despite the data the single currency was able to rise against the US Dollar as economists expect today’s retail sales data to show that sales stagnated in January.
“There’s risk off in the market on concern that the US economy might be slowing down more rapidly than people had been expecting. We’re waiting for retail sales this afternoon and we might be in for a disappointment, which is expected to weigh on the Dollar,” said the head of forex trading at Danske Bank.
The Euro is likely to soften on Friday if GDP data comes in weaker than expected.
Euro Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3665 ,
Euro,, Pound Sterling,0.8214 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5017 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.5260 ,
[/table]
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