In anticipation of the increase in interest rates by the Fed in December and an extension of bond purchases by the ECB, the euro has temporarily reached its lowest level in the last 7 months. The strong US dollar also burdened further commodity prices, which dropped on a broad front.
Positive PMI data can not sufficiently support the euro
The pressure on the European single currency was already seen in Asian trading hours, and the price of the European single currency fell to $ 1.606. The in the morning announced PMI data in the euro area could indeed slightly exceed the forecasts, but helped the euro just to a slightly lift until the first data from the United States were published. Although the figures for the manufacturing PMI and for existing home sales failed to meet analysts' expectations, the price fell and reached temporarily the 7-month low of 1.0602. The current market trend clearly reflects investor expectations. They expect a modest raising of US interest rates by the US Federal Reserve, and on the opposite is expected that the ECB will pump more money in the market in December with the purchase of bonds and securities.
Chinese demand and a strong US dollar burden on commodity prices
The strong US dollar impacts increasingly on the prices of commodities. Due to the high dollar commodities are increasingly irrelevant as attractive an asset class for investors outside the United States. In addition, a continued weak demand ensures a further easing of prices. So the price per tonne of copper fell with 4444 US dollar to its lowest level in more than six years. The prices of crude oil are by the persisting oversupply under pressure. Only upcoming speculation about a cut in the production from Saudi Arabia dropped the price of North Sea Brent crude, rising to $ 45.73, an increase of 2.4 percent to be leveling off again later under the level of 45 dollars.
