The euro managed to continue its growth against the US dollar during the first half of Thursday due to good fundamental data, which indicated an improvement in the situation in the euro area economy.
According to the data, the unemployment rate in France in the 4th quarter of 2017 has significantly decreased, which is a good indicator of reforms in the field of labor legislation.
According to the data, the unemployment rate in France in the 4th quarter of 2017 decreased to 8.9% from 9.6% in the previous quarter. The level of long-term unemployment also fell to 3.6% from 4.2%.
The positive balance of foreign trade in the eurozone in December increased, which will give a good impetus to the euro bloc's economy in early 2018. This also suggests that the relatively high euro exchange rate, to which the European Central Bank has repeatedly drawn attention, does not exert pressure on economic growth.
According to the report, the euro area's trade surplus in December 2017 increased to 23.8 billion euros from 22 billion euros in November. This growth was due to exports, which increased by 1.7%, while imports grew by only 0.9%.
In the second half of the day, data on the producer price index in the US was released, which did not provide significant support to the US dollar, as it fully coincided with the forecasts of economists.
According to the report, the producer price index PPI in the US in January of this year grew by 0.4% after a 0.1% decline in December 2017, which indicates an increase in inflation, which is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve System. The data fully coincided with the expectations of economists. Compared to the same period in 2017, the index grew by 2.7%, whereas it was expected to increase by 2.5%.
The base index, which does not take into account volatile categories, namely food and energy, in January also increased by 0.4%, while economists had expected its growth by 0.2%.
Wednesday's and Thursday's data on inflation in the US show the picture as a whole, which allows the Fed not to delay further hiking interest rates this year, which are expected to at least reach three.
The dollar did not face serious pressure after recent data showed that the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week increased.
According to the report of the US Department of Labor, the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits for the week from 4 to 10 February increased by 7,000 and amounted to 230,000. Economists had expected the number of applications to be 230,000.
