The euro has gained strength against the US dollar today on positive news from Greece that it is introducing changes to help reduce its deficit.
The struggling European nation has announced that it is to introduce new higher taxes and will impose salary cuts in the public sector and pension freezes in order to help cut its public debt. The changes are scheduled to deliver savings in the region of EUR 6.56 billion.
Later today, figures are due on US retail sales figures and consumer confidence, which is distracting traders somewhat for now. In this morning’s European trading, the European single currency strengthened against the dollar to $1.3716, from $1.3673 late yesterday. The pound sterling was also up against the dollar to $1.5104 from $1.5047 the night before.
However, the euro did not only see good news this week, as a leading German think-tanks said it expected Germany’s economy to contract in the first quarter.
The US dollar has been subdued in the past few days as a result of mixed messages from the country’s economists. They reported that the trade deficit slipped unexpectedly in January, while the number of unemployed people signing on for unemployment benefits dropped.
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