The euro continued the upward trend of recent trading days on Friday and reached its highest level in almost a year and a half. This was mainly caused by the weakness of the US dollar, which was affected by speculation about a less steep rate hike in the US. In the morning, the euro rose to $1.1243, last seen in February 2022.
During the week, the euro gained more than 2 percent in trading against the dollar. The reason for the dollar’s weakness is speculation that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates less sharply after inflation in the world’s largest economy has unexpectedly weakened.
The market firmly expects an increase at the next Fed interest rate meeting at the end of July. However, further interest rate hikes are increasingly being questioned, which has a significant impact on the dollar exchange rate.
Graphic: ECB reference rate since the introduction of the euro in 2002
The European Central Bank (ECB) last set the reference interest rate at 1.1182 (Wednesday: 1.1022) dollars on Thursday afternoon. In New York, the euro was trading at $1.1220 around 9 p.m. Thursday.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
