The Eurozone’s international trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in December according to a data release from Eurostat today. The eurozone’s 15 countries that use the euro currency showed a trade deficit of 0.7 billion euros in December following a revised deficit of 5.8 billion euros in November. The decrease of the deficit was unexpected as market forecasts had expected the deficit to grow to 6.7 billion euros for the month.
December’s deficit also decreased when compared to December 2007 which registered a trade deficit of 3.9 billion euros. The eurozone trade deficit for all of 2008 registered 32.1 billion euros after registering a trade surplus of 15.8 billion euros for the total of 2007.
The trade deficit for all of the 27 nations in the European Union also decreased in December. The EU27 posted a deficit of 10.4 billion euros following a deficit of 23.6 billion euros in November. On an annual basis, December’s EU27 deficit was 7.3 billion euros smaller than the deficit of 17.7 billion euros in December of 2007. The total EU27 trade deficit for all of 2008 was 241.3 billion euros following a total 2007 trade deficit of 192.4 billion euros.
Forex Trading – Euro continues to fall versus US Dollar.
The Forex markets today have seen the US dollar mostly continue its strong run since the beginning of the trading week while the euro has been mostly weaker against the other major currencies. The US dollar has gained ground versus the euro, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and Canadian dollar while losing ground to the Japanese yen and British pound. The euro, meanwhile, has lost ground to the yen, pound, us dollar and the Swiss franc while gaining against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar.
The euro has fallen against the dollar as the EUR/USD declined to trading at 1.2583 dollars per euro at 12:56pm EST in the US trading session after opening the day at 1.2648(00:00GMT).
The British pound has advanced slightly today versus the dollar from 1.4219 dollars per pound to trading at 1.4225 dollars per pound. The dollar is trading a bit lower against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY trades at 92.32 after opening at 92.45.
The dollar has gained against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.2496 earlier today to trading later at 1.2639. Against the Swiss franc, the USD is virtually unchanged from its 1.1736 opening.
The New Zealand and Australian dollars are both falling against the US dollar from their opening exchange rates. The NZD/USD currently trades at 0.5081 after opening at 0.5119 while the AUD/USD trades at 0.6351 after opening today at 0.6427.
EUR/USD Chart – The Euro falling against the US Dollar today in Forex Trading and trading below the level of the 21-day simple moving average(blue) and the 55-day moving average(red).
