The European currency continues its steady growth against the US dollar after a slight decline on Friday evening, due to good statistics on the US labor market.
Despite the fact that the prices of eurozone producers remained unchanged in April, the decrease in political risks associated with Spain and Italy has a positive effect on investors who are returning to risky assets.
According to the statistics agency, inflationary pressures in the euro area remain moderate, and this is subject to a sharp rise in energy prices.
So, the PPI producer price index of the eurozone in April this year has not changed compared with March. Compared to the same period in 2017, the index grew by 2.0%, which in itself shows a good result. Economists expected the indicator to increase by 0.5% in April.
Today, also a report on GDP growth in Greece, which was at a fairly acceptable level in the first quarter of this year, was also published. This suggests that the economy continues to grow after a small overall recession in the eurozone in the first quarter of this year, which will allow Greece to approach the end of the eight-year assistance program.
According to the statistics agency Greece Elstat, Greece's GDP in the 1st quarter of 2018 grew by 0.8% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017. As noted in the report, the growth of the economy was due to a good increase in the export component and consumer spending. The decrease was observed in the growth of capital investments. It is expected that the Greek economy should show an increase of 2.3% this year, after growing 1.4% in the past.
As for the technical picture of the EURUSD pair, buyers continue to strive for new highs around 1.1770 and 1.1830. As for the intraday picture, to maintain the ascendant potential, bulls need to stay above 1.1715 at the end of the day.
The British pound also rose after the release of data on the index of supply managers PMI for the construction sector. Despite the fact that the service sector is still key, PMI for the construction sector indicates a favorable state of the economy.
According to the report, the index of supply managers PMI for the UK construction sector was at the level of 52.2 points, which indicates an increase in activity.
The Australian dollar gets serious support and strengthens its position against the US dollar after an excellent report on retail sales, released in the morning.
According to data, retail sales in Australia in April this year rose by 0.4%, while economists predicted an increase of only 0.2%. A good report on retail sales will positively affect the final GDP data, which will bring the RBA closer to the next steps towards raising interest rates. Inventories of companies in Australia in the 1st quarter increased by 0.7%, while companies' profits increased by 5.9%.