Euro Weakens as ECB Holds Rates, Economy Falters

The euro went down after the European Central Bank kept its benchmark rates unchanged, while reports showed that France’s and Germany’s trade balance deteriorated. The currency regained some of its strength today.

The ECB left its interest rate on the main refinancing operations unchanged at 1.25 percent.
Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB, was moderately optimistic and said on the press-conference after the monetary policy decision:

Furthermore, the most recent data confirm the positive underlying momentum of economic activity in the euro area, while uncertainty remains elevated. Overall, our monetary policy stance remains accommodative, lending support to economic activity. On balance, risks to the outlook for price stability are on the upside.

The actual strength of the Eurozone economy remains questionable, though. Germany’s trade balance surplus shrank to â‚¬12.0 billion in April from €15.1 billion in March. The deficit of France’s trade balance widened to â‚¬7.1 billion from €5.9 billion.

EUR/USD traded near 1.4538 todays of 1:34 GMT after falling yesterday from 1.4582 to 1.4509. EUR/JPY traded at 116.48, declining from 116.60. Meanwhile EUR/GBP rebounded to 0.8877 from the decline to 0.8863 from 0.8889 on the previous trading session.

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