Investing.com - The Euro traded higher against the U.S. Dollar Friday in early U.S. trade, despite Standard & Poor’s slashing Spain’s debt rating two levels to BBB+, as Switzerland’s KOF economic barometer climbed more-than-expected last month and investors await the U.S. GDP numbers.
EUR/USD traded at 1.3230 during U.S. afternoon trade, climbing 0.07%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3105, Monday’s low, and resistance at 1.3263, Thursday’s high.
Supporting the single currency, data indicated Switzerland’s KOF economic barometer rose more-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.40 last month from 0.09 in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 0.08.
Analysts had expected the KOF economic barometer to rise to 0.26 last month.
S&P slashed Spain’s long term debt rating to BBB+ reporting that the outlook is negative in the face of the recession undermining efforts to cut the budget deficit.
In other Spanish news, the jobless rate spiked to 24.4%, hitting an eighteen year high, the National Statistics Institute reported.
Meanwhile, in Japan, the central bank expanded its plan for government-bond purchases by 10 trillion yen to support the economy.
Investors are awaiting the U.S. GDP later in the session.
Economists have projected the GDP to have grown at 2.5% annual rate, down from the 3% gain in the previous 3 months pressuring the greenback.
Meanwhile, the Euro was down against the British Pound and the Japanese Yen, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.17% to hit 0.8155 and EUR/JPY falling 0.26% to hit 106.80.