BLBG:Euro Set For Weekly Loss Before Spanish, German Output
The euro headed for its biggest weekly decline against the dollar in more than six months amid concern that Europe’s economy is tumbling into a recession.
The euro fell for a third day against the yen before data that may show German industrial production rose 0.2 percent in May. Output in Spain slid for the ninth month, separate figures showed. The dollar gained versus most of its major peers before a report economists said will show U.S. employers added 100,000 jobs in June. The European Central Bank and the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates yesterday to bolster growth.
“The economic fundamentals surrounding the euro area look dire,” said Takuya Kawabata, researcher at Gaitame.com Research Institute Ltd. in Tokyo, a unit of Japan’s largest currency- margin company. “We can’t expect any economic indicators that can bolster the euro.”
The 17-nation euro fell about 0.1 percent to $1.2386 as of 9:09 a.m. London time, leaving it 2.2 percent lower in the week, the largest decline since Dec. 16. The currency declined almost 0.1 percent to 98.97 yen, headed for a 2.1 percent weekly slide. The greenback was little changed at 79.90 yen.
“Downside risks to the euro-area economic outlook have materialized,” ECB President Mario Draghi said yesterday after cutting the main refinancing rate by a quarter-percentage point to a record 0.75 percent and reducing interest on overnight deposits to zero. “Economic growth in the euro area continues to remain weak with heightened uncertainty,” he said.
A U.S. government report today will probably show employers increased payrolls by 100,000 workers last month, according a Bloomberg survey of economists. The unemployment rate probably held at 8.2 percent in June from the previous month, another survey projected.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mariko Ishikawa in Tokyo at mishikawa9@bloomberg.net; David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net