The euro has been extending its downtrend against other major currencies during early North American session on Monday despite most of the regional stocks gained. The euro tumbled to more than a 1-1/2-year low against the pound and a fresh record low against the franc.
At 9:39 am ET, U.K’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was down by 4 points or 0.05%. While, Frace’s CAC 40 gained 14 points or 0.4% and Germany’s DAX garnered 50 points or 0.84%.
Germany’s consumer price inflation eased in June, a flash report by the Federal Statistical Office showed today.
The consumer price index, or CPI, rose 0.9% year-on-year in June, slower than a 1.2% growth in the previous month. Economists’ had expected an increase of 1%.
The euro has been extending its European session’s decline against the yen during early North American deals on Monday. As of now, the euro is trading at 110.12 against the yen, compared to last week’s close of 110.62.
In Japan, the country’s retail sales was up 2.8 percent on year in May, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said today.
That was well below analyst expectations for a 4.8 percent annual increase following the 4.9 percent spike in April.
Extending downtrend, the euro-pound pair fell to a more than a 1-1/2-year low of 0.8172 of at 9:55 am ET Monday. The pair, which closed last week’s trading at 0.8224, is now trading at 0.8168.
U.K. house prices recorded only a slight growth as the supply of property exceeded demand in June, a closely watched survey showed today.
House prices edged up 0.1% in June from the previous month, following a 0.2% rise seen in May, according to a survey conducted by the property data provider Hometrack. Annually, house price growth increased slightly to 2.1% from 2% in May.
The euro-dollar pair that fell as low as 1.2327 at 8:45 am ET is now worth 1.2339. The pair closed last week’s deals at 1.2381.
In economic news, the U.S. Personal income increased by slightly less than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department today, although the report also showed that personal spending increased by a little more than anticipated.
The report showed that personal income increased by 0.4 percent in May following an upwardly revised 0.5 percent increase in April. Economists had expected income to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.4 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department said that personal spending edged up by 0.2 percent in May after increasing by less than 0.1 percent in the previous month. The modest increase in spending came in just above economists’ estimates for a 0.1 percent increase.
Against the Swiss franc, the euro is now trading at a fresh record low of 1.3356, a depreciation of 1.4%, from last week’s close of 1.3551.