EUR/USD continues to drift this week. In Wednesday trade, the pair is trading at 1.1276, up 0.09% on the day. On the release front, there are no major eurozone or German numbers, but ECB Mario Draghi speaks at an ECB event in Frankfurt. The U.S. releases current account and trade balance. On Thursday, Germany releases CPI and the U.S. publishes GDP and unemployment claims.
German confidence indicators continue to raise concerns about the health of the economy. Consumer climate slipped in March to 10.4 points, after two successive readings of 10.8 points. With the eurozone mired in an economic slowdown and German numbers pointing to weaker growth, it’s not surprising that the German consumer has become less optimistic. On Tuesday, German business confidence improved slightly in March, with a reading of 99.6 points. The markets have been accustomed to releases above the 100-level, and the February reading of 98.5 was the weakest since November 2014. The survey noted that any improvement was confined to domestic sectors, such as construction and retail services.
The eurozone manufacturing sector remains weak, battered down by the ongoing global trade war. Germany, the locomotive of the eurozone, has also seen manufacturing numbers slip. There has been less demand for German exports, such as vehicles and auto parts.
