-Howard Archer from IHS
Effects of the June ECB's meeting are feeding through financial markets, as the Euro index plunged 1.27% over the last five trading days. It will be interesting to monitor Euro's future performance, as fundamentals in the region improved, and can ease some of the pressure on policymakers. However, it seems that remarks from the central bank's officials are likely to provide a long-term bearish impulse for the single currency, hence, even upbeat fundamentals will have a muted impact on the exchange rate.
Employment in the Eurozone increased for the second straight quarter in the first three months of 2014, bolstering the case the recovery is finally boosting the labour market. The number of persons employed climbed by 0.1% on a quarterly basis, and was up by 0.2% from a year ago, posting its first annual increase since the first quarter of 2011. What is more important, hiring in the Europe's largest economy, Germany, picked up 0.3% over the same period. Nevertheless, there are still some 18.7 million people unemployed, while overall jobless rate fluctuates around record high.
Separately, a report showed that net trade surplus increased to 15.7 billion euros in the fourth month, accelerating from 14.0 billion a month earlier. The main reason for an improvement was caused by a 3% decline in imports, while exports fell 1%.
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