Euro Holds Steady Despite Dollar Strength

The Euro has shown impressive resilience today in the face of stronger US economic data. The economic calendar was very light with first quarter employment, French and Italian consumer prices being the only pieces of economic data released today.

There were no major surprises in the data with employment slightly stronger and consumer prices slightly weaker. Comments from Eurozone officials continue to be hawkish. ECB members Liikanen and Garganas repeated the very familiar warnings about inflation risks. This hawkish sentiment is helping to limit losses in the Euro. Consumer prices from Germany and the Eurozone as a whole are due for release tomorrow along with non-farm payrolls from France. Most of these are final figures so no surprises are expected.