The euro plunged to its lowest in more than two years against the dollar on Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi affirmed his pledge to use unconventional measures to stimulate a sluggish eurozone economy. Net euro short positions last week were the largest since July 2012.
In a press briefing, Draghi said ECB members are all prepared to take more policy action if necessary and the bank's staff will prepare the groundwork. He reiterated that the risks to the eurozone's recovery remained tilted to the downside. In mid-morning trading, the euro was down 0.4 percent at $1.2437, hitting a 26-month low of $1.2398. Against the yen, the euro dropped from 10-month highs to trade down 0.5 percent at 142.45 yen.
The dollar touched a seven-year peak against the yen of 115.49 yen and was last flat on the day at 114.53 yen. The dollar earlier rose after data showed US weekly initial jobless claims fell more than expected to 278,000 last week, compared with forecasts of 285,000. The dollar index was up 0.2 percent at 87.661, having hit a high of 87.913, its highest since June 2010.
Comments
Comments are closed.