Some areas on the Old Continent, particularly Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic received the equivalent of two months of rainfall over the weekend, leading to flooding and landslides. Initial reports indicate four people have died, with a dozen missing and hundreds evacuated. The human repercussions will certainly be considerable. From an economic standpoint, this augurs very poorly for the eurozone, which is attempting to get back on track and generate economic growth. The euro has lost a few points against the greenback this morning.
This morning at 10 a.m., U.S. ISM Manufacturing Index and Construction Spending figures will be released. Markets are forecasting an increase of 0.9% in the latter over the previous month. This would be good news for the U.S. real estate market, which has been gradually returning to health since bottoming out during the financial crisis. Pundits are calling for the ISM Manufacturing Index to hold steady at 50.7, indicating that the manufacturing sector is just barely growing. Wishing you a great day. Xavier Villemaire
Range of the day: 1.0325 - 1.0425