The euro currency slumped during Friday’s
trading, extending its losses for a fifth straight session, after the release
of downbeat data from Germany and France economies and amid the continuing fears
associated with the spread of the coronavirus.
The EURUSD pair hit a new low today at 1.0947, the
lowest since October 8 last year, while currently trading at 1.0953. Against
the pound, the European currency was down by 0.16 percent at 0.8477.
The EURUSD has continued its downward trend since
Monday's trading, after hitting a high of 1.11095 last Friday, as strong demand
on the US dollar pushed the green currency to new highs in 2020.
According to the data Issued by the Bureau of Statistics,
German industrial production fell by -3.5 percent, well below expectations of
-0.2 percent, the lowest rate recorded by the index since January 2009, while
November reading was revised up to 1.2 percent.
In France, industrial production contracted by
2.8 percent in January, worse than market expectations of -0.3 percent, and
worse than the previous reading, which showed 0.3 percent advance.
For his part, the governor of the
Central Bank of France Villeroy said that the contraction
of GDP during the last quarter was temporary and that the French economy will
return to growth again to 0.3 percent in the coming period.
Later in the day, global financial markets are
looking ahead to the most influential U.S. labor market data that mainly shapes
the rate decisions by the Federal Reserve.
Analyst are in favor of seeing a job creation of
160,000 in January after a job-gain of 145,000 in December, while the
unemployment rate may have stabilized at 3.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the
performance of six major currencies against the US dollar, surged 0.07 percent
at 98.46, the highest level since June 2017.
Regarding the latest updates about the coronavirus, Japanese officials
said on Friday that 61 coronavirus cases were reported on a quarantined cruise
ship in Yokohama, marking a sharp rise from the 20 confirmed cases on Thursday.
