The EUR/USD pair trades 0.25% higher to near 1.1630 during the late Asian trading session on Thursday. The major currency pair attracts bids as the US Dollar (USD) corrects after United States (US) President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping concluded the meeting without signing a trade deal.
During the press time, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, retraces to near 99.00.
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the weakest against the New Zealand Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.22% | -0.11% | 0.14% | -0.06% | -0.25% | -0.33% | -0.16% | |
| EUR | 0.22% | 0.10% | 0.36% | 0.16% | -0.03% | -0.11% | 0.05% | |
| GBP | 0.11% | -0.10% | 0.26% | 0.06% | -0.13% | -0.22% | -0.05% | |
| JPY | -0.14% | -0.36% | -0.26% | -0.22% | -0.39% | -0.50% | -0.34% | |
| CAD | 0.06% | -0.16% | -0.06% | 0.22% | -0.18% | -0.28% | -0.11% | |
| AUD | 0.25% | 0.03% | 0.13% | 0.39% | 0.18% | -0.08% | 0.09% | |
| NZD | 0.33% | 0.11% | 0.22% | 0.50% | 0.28% | 0.08% | 0.19% | |
| CHF | 0.16% | -0.05% | 0.05% | 0.34% | 0.11% | -0.09% | -0.19% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
However, US president Trump has reduced tariffs on imports from China to 47% from 57% and has stated that Beijing will continue exporting rare earths to Washington.
Meanwhile, the Euro (EUR) trades firmly, except antipodeans, ahead of the monetary policy announcement by the European Central Bank (ECB) at 13:15 GMT. The ECB is expected to hold its Deposit Facility rate steady at 2% as inflationary pressures in the Eurozone economy have been broadly stable near the 2% target.
Ahead of the ECB’s policy announcement, investors will focus on the preliminary Q3 Eurozone Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and German Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) data for October, which will be published at 10:00 GMT and 13:00 GMT, respectively.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve (Fed) reduced interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 3.75%-4.00%, citing it as “risk management cut” and argued against reducing again in the December meeting.
The European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, is the reserve bank for the Eurozone. The ECB sets interest rates and manages monetary policy for the region. The ECB primary mandate is to maintain price stability, which means keeping inflation at around 2%. Its primary tool for achieving this is by raising or lowering interest rates. Relatively high interest rates will usually result in a stronger Euro and vice versa. The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy decisions at meetings held eight times a year. Decisions are made by heads of the Eurozone national banks and six permanent members, including the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.
In extreme situations, the European Central Bank can enact a policy tool called Quantitative Easing. QE is the process by which the ECB prints Euros and uses them to buy assets – usually government or corporate bonds – from banks and other financial institutions. QE usually results in a weaker Euro. QE is a last resort when simply lowering interest rates is unlikely to achieve the objective of price stability. The ECB used it during the Great Financial Crisis in 2009-11, in 2015 when inflation remained stubbornly low, as well as during the covid pandemic.
Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse of QE. It is undertaken after QE when an economic recovery is underway and inflation starts rising. Whilst in QE the European Central Bank (ECB) purchases government and corporate bonds from financial institutions to provide them with liquidity, in QT the ECB stops buying more bonds, and stops reinvesting the principal maturing on the bonds it already holds. It is usually positive (or bullish) for the Euro.