Yesterday main data topics were growth figures for Europe and jobless numbers from the US.
Europe have now recorded two consecutive quarters of economic slowdown, Q4 in 2022 and Q1 for 2023.
From an economic terminology, this means that the area technically is in a recession. With this in mind, the markets did not react the news and the EUR held up well against other currency pairs.
Over the Atlantic and the US showed data for continuing and initial jobless claims. A surge in initial jobless claims compared to last month and expectations caused the afternoon session for the USD to drop. GBP/USD moved back above the psychological 1.25 mark. EUR/USD gained roughly one percent, seeing the rate move from 1.0696 in the morning to 1.0780 late afternoon.
Leading us onto next week when both the Federal Reserve (Wednesday) and ECB (Thursday) hold their interest rate decision. Markets today are forecasting a pause from the Federal reserve while ECB are expected to raise rates by 25 basis points to a total level of 4%. Keep in mind that on Tuesday there is inflation data releases for US and Germany.
