ECB leaves the rates unchanged. Dramatic drop of the euro.
Asian and European trading sessions:
Euro: Thursday saw a considerable decrease of the euro. Following the announcement, that the ECB left the principal rate unchanged at the previous level of 1.25%, the statement of the ECB head, Jean-Claude Trichet, read that the Euro-zone rates would not be increased for some time now.
The released Euro-zone statistics pressured the euro as well. The German Factory orders for March resulted at the 9.7% level, much lower than the expected 15.4%.
As a result, the EUR/USD pair dropped from the maximums of $1.4870 to the minimums of almost $1,45 level.
British Pound: Sterling was also under pressure today. The released UK fundamentals could not support the national currency. The GBP PMI services turned out to be 54.3, which was lower than its forecast of 56.0.
According to the expectations, the Bank of England left the principal rate unchanged at the record-breaking minimal level of 0.5%.
The GBP/USD pair dropped from the maximums of $1.6530 to minimums of $1,6400.
Australian Dollar: Published today Retail Sales for March dropped for 0.5%, when the expected growth of this indicator was for the 0.5%. As a result, the Australian dollar decreased against the greenback.
Japanese Yen: The USD/JPY pair showed minimums of Y79.55.
Oil: Oil continued to drop, and the price reached the minimum of $100 mark per barrel.
Canadian Dollar: Canadian dollar decreased as a result of the oil prices’ drop.
American trading session:
US Dollar: Greenback rehabilitated from its previous losses and strengthened today. Demand for the save-heaven assets grew and the commodity markets’ prices went down.
Dollar strengthened in spite of the negative US fundamentals, released today. The US initial jobless claims grew to 474K against the expected drop to 410K.