Forexpros – The euro struck a ten week high against the U.S. dollar Thursday, as German business confidence numbers combined with Greek hopes lifted the single currency.
EUR/USD traded at 1.3321 during midsession U.S. trade up 0.46%, after hitting a high of 1.3342 and a low of 1.3232.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3114, last Friday’s low and technical resistance exists at 1.3342, the session high.
The single currency rally was spurred when Germany posted better than expected business climate index figures. The Munich based Ifo institute’s business climate index climbed to 109.6 in February from 108.3 in January.
However, the European Commission changed its November economic growth forecast for 0.05% growth to a 0.3% contraction in the euro zone.
The EU expects the economy to shrink 1.3% in Italy and give back 1% in Spain.
Trying to ease the worry, European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner, Olli Rehn stated, “Although growth has stalled, we are seeing signs of stabilization in the European economy. Economic sentiment is still at low levels, but stress in financial markets is easing.”
In Greek news, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated she will keep the pressure on Greece to meet its debt cutting pledge as many remain skeptical of Greek’s true intentions.
Applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. were unchanged in the week ending February 18 at 351,000. This marks the fewest number of people on unemployment benefit rolls since 2008, signaling continued improvement in the world’s largest economy
The euro was higher against the pound and against the yen, with EUR/GBP adding 0.30% to hit 0.8481 and EUR/JPY climbing 0.38% to hit 106.79.
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