Around 7:30 p.m., the euro appreciated by 0.12% against the greenback, to 1.1852 dollars.
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The euro rose a little against the dollar at the end of the day Thursday, after a report from the last meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) reflecting the institution’s prudence and a disappointing indicator in the United States on unemployment .
Around 7:30 p.m. GMT (9:30 p.m. in Paris), the euro appreciated by 0.12% against the greenback, to $ 1.1852.
“The euro remains in calm waters against the dollar after the minutes” of an ECB meeting in late July, observed Kenny Fisher of Oanda.
“The theme (…) seems to have been + uncertainty”, the word appearing twenty times in the minutes (of the meeting) and the ECB remaining very concerned about the outlook for growth and inflation in the euro zone “, He noted.
According to the report, members of the ECB’s Governing Council were then of the opinion that “the trajectory of inflation, like the extent of the initial rebound in activity (in the euro zone) was not necessarily a good guide to the speed and robustness of the recovery ”.
The decision-making body will be “better placed to reassess the stance of monetary policy and its political tools” at its next meeting in September, he added.
The day before, the US Central Bank also seemed in no hurry to lower its interest rates even further. The members of its monetary policy committee notably estimated that “the current health crisis (would weigh heavily) in the short term on economic activity, employment and inflation”.
In the same document, the participants also underlined that “the uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook (remains) very high, the trajectory of the economy heavily dependent on that of the virus and the public sector’s response to it”, that is, the adoption of a new aid plan.
However, the White House and the elected Democrats of Congress have been discussing for several weeks new aid measures for businesses, households, local communities and schools, without reaching an agreement.
Weekly jobless claims are however on the rise last week in the United States, passing above the million mark.
A total of 14.8 million people were receiving unemployment benefit during the week of August 2-8, with the data released one week later.
These statistics reflect the persistence of high unemployment in the United States even as the unemployed face since the beginning of August the loss of a crucial aid of 600 dollars per week, which had been adopted at the end of March by the Trump administration and Congress as part of the massive economic stimulus package.
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