Euro weakens as the possibility of an extended QE programme rises again

The euro had a disappointing start to the week on Monday as investors looked ahead to a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting later in the week, with speculation over whether it will announce plans to enlarge its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme very much in the balance – which hurt the euro throughout the day. The single currency started to weaken when the ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny said on Thursday that additional measures to boost price growth in the euro zone are needed.

This morning producer price index data from Germany was released; this was forecast to improve from -0.5% up to -0.1%. Other than this we can expect the majority of investors to focus on the ECB meeting on Thursday.