Euro nudges up as concerns ebb

The Euro bounced higher on Wednesday following news reports which eased forex investor’s concerns over euro zone turmoil. In Italy, the 5-Star party, the largest party in the new parliament, will reportedly try again to form a deal to prevent an early election, which markets fear would seal the deal on Italy leaving the euro, according to Reuters. EUR/USD was up to 1.1724 by the time of writing.

In Germany, robust economic data buoyed the euro rally. German retail sales for the month of April were reported at 2.3 percent against consensus of 0.5 percent while Preliminary CPI came in at 0.5 percent versus the expected rate of 0.3 percent growth.

The Bank of Canada left rates unchanged again at 1.25 percent. Currency markets reacted bullishly on the loonie, with the BoC dropping any reference to being cautious about future rates, implying a higher probability for a rate hike in the coming future. USD/CAD traded as low as 1.2845 on Wednesday.

US ADP Non-Farm Employment was lower than expected in April at 178K versus 191K. March’s figure was also revised to 163K instead of 204K. Together with downbeat US preliminary GDP data, coming in at 2.2 percent instead of the expected 2.3 percent growth over the past quarter, the US dollar Index dropped Wednesday.

US oil prices rallied on Wednesday on reports that OPEC and Russia have decided to keep crude production limits in place at least until the end of the year. Investors will be closely watching US crude oil inventory reports due to come out on Thursday, a day later than normal because of the holiday weekend.

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