Around 8:30 p.m., the euro lost 0.09% to 1.0886 dollars, brushing its lowest point in a month reached the day before at 1.0875 dollars.
The euro slipped once more to its lowest in a month on Thursday once morest the US dollar following the publication of the minutes of the ECB, less determined than the Fed to raise its rates.
Around 6:30 p.m. GMT, the euro lost 0.09% to 1.0886 dollars, brushing its lowest point in a month reached the day before at 1.0875 dollars.
War in Ukraine, tightening of the Fed while the ECB sticks to its positions and finally the upcoming elections in France: the euro was not spared by the uncertainties.
“The euro continues to be plagued by the war in Ukraine which is driving up oil and gas prices, undermining the economic prospects of the zone, by the increasingly hawkish attitude of the Fed and by the political uncertainty as the French presidential election approaches, with a far-right candidate rising in the polls,” said Joe Manimbo of Western Union.
On the side of the European Central Bank, “certain members” of the Governing Council expressed a “preference to define a fixed date this summer” for the end of the “APP” program of debt buybacks.
This “would pave the way for a rise in key rates in the third quarter in view of the deterioration of the inflation outlook”, explains the report, published Thursday, of the exchanges between central bankers of the euro zone held in early March.
But this debate within the ECB is not new, and the minutes constituted “much ado regarding nothing”, estimates Michael Hewson, analyst of CMC Markets.
The single European currency is down more than 4% once morest the dollar since the beginning of the year, traders having digested the minutes of the meeting of the American central bank (Federal Reserve, Fed) the day before.
It is expected to accelerate the pace of rate hikes in the coming months, with several of its officials in favor of it in order to combat high inflation in the United States, according to this document.
The euro is also weakened by the prospect of new sanctions once morest Russia.
For the moment, the European Union is careful not to directly target Russian gas or oil in its sanctions once morest Moscow, but the hypothesis is often mentioned.
“The risk of an energy crisis is real”, which keeps the euro at a low level, warns Antje Praefcke, an analyst at Commerzbank.
