EUR/USD
The euro-area economy grew just 0.2 percent in the third quarter and a measure of manufacturing and services activity fell to a 16-month low in November. Inflation has been less than half the ECB’s goal of just below 2 percent for the past year. Currently, the ECB inflation of 0.6 percent this year, 1.1 percent in 2015 and 1.4 percent in 2016. Germany’s annual inflation rate, calculated using a harmonized European Union method, dropped to 0.5 percent this month from 0.7 percent in October, That’s the lowest since February 2010. Spain’s consumer prices slid 0.5 percent in the 12 months through November.
GBP/USD
The pound fell for the first time in four days versus the dollar, dropping 0.5 percent to $1.5721 after rising to $1.5826, the highest since Nov. 12. The U.K. Sterling has dropped 0.2 percent in the past month, paring the third-biggest gain of the past year among 10 developed-nation currencies, U.K. government bonds advanced, pushing 30-year yields to a record low, as prospects of slowing inflation globally combined with signs of an economic slowdown locally to boost demand for fixed-income assets.
USD/JPY
The yen has tumbled at least 16 percent versus dollar as Abe implemented his three policy “arrows” of monetary easing, fiscal spending and structural reform, designed to revive the economy and end two decades of deflation. Japan unexpectedly sank into a recession in the last quarter and consumer-price gains slowed in September for the fourth month in a row. The policies, known as Abenomics, pushed local government bond yields to among the lowest globally, prompting Japanese investors to seek higher returns abroad. Asia received almost six times more inflows from Japan in the first nine months of this year than the average over the past decade, compared with the 2.6 times for Central America and 1.3 times for North America, finance ministry data show.
