NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The euro fell moderately on Monday. In New York trading, the common currency last cost 1.0008 US dollars. It thus continued to oscillate around parity. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 0.9990 (Friday: 0.9954) dollars. The dollar thus cost 1.0010 (1.0046) euros.
In the absence of important economic data, there was a lack of clear impetus in foreign exchange trading. In the further course of the week, however, there are a number of central bank decisions to be made, above all the interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday. In view of the very high level of inflation, a further sharp rise in the key interest rate is expected. A step of 0.75 percentage points by the Fed is expected. But a more significant increase is not ruled out.
“The big question is not so much the size of the rate hike this week, but rather: How high will the council members go when their interest rate expectations peak?” wrote Antje Praefcke, a currency expert at Commerzbank. An increase of up to 4.5 percent is currently being forecast on the markets. The key interest rate is currently in a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent./gl/jha/