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Euro Strong Ahead Of ECB Meeting

ByBenzinga
Published 06/06/2013, 07:40 AM
Updated 05/14/2017, 06:45 AM

The euro ticked up on Thursday morning ahead of the European Central Bank's June policy meeting. The common currency traded at $1.31 despite Wednesday's reports that another of its “core” economies slipped into a recession.

Finland, considered to be among the eurozone's most powerful economies, became the ninth eurozone nation to post two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the European Union's statistics agency released a report on Wednesday that showed Finland's GDP fell 0.1 percent from the first quarter and was 2.1 percent lower than the first quarter of 2012.

The drop has been attributed to the shrinking demand for Finnish exports as eurozone countries struggle to correct rising unemployment while juggling budget cuts and fiscal reforms.

With Finland joining the Netherlands and France as a core country that has been pulled into the region's widening recession, many are worried that the region will not return to growth by the end of the year. In fact, the chief economist at Markit claimed that without growth drivers, the best the eurozone can hope for is mere stabilization.

The European Central Bank is set to meet on Thursday to discuss the region's monetary policy and growth forecasts which will be released later in the day. Many are expecting the bank to keep interest rates fixed as economic data showed slight improvements in the region in May. Although Bank President Mario Draghi discussed lowering the deposit rate at last month's meeting, he isn't expected to follow through with it this month.

BY Laura Brodbeck

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