ECB’s Lagarde: Latest GDP data from France, Germany and Spain support our scenario

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde termed the latest economic output numbers from France, Germany and Spain as “quite encouraging” while speaking to French daily Le Figaro during the weekend.

ECB’s Lagarde also said that these data support their scenario favoring the ECB expectations of witnessing a 0.90% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the Euro Area this year.

Apart from Lagarde, Germany's Bundesbank President and ECB Governing Council member Joachim Nagel also crossed wires late Friday while stating expectations of witnessing softer inflation.

The policymaker cited stubborn core inflation to defend the hawkish ECB policies while suggesting higher interest rates for longer.

Market reaction

EUR/USD offers no surprises during the week-start, posting mild gains around 1.1025 after posting a two-week downtrend in the last. However, the market players remain cautious about the Euro pair’s recovery ahead of today’s preliminary readings of the Eurozone inflation and growth data, as well as Friday’s US Nonfarm Payrolls.

Also read: EUR/USD Weekly Forecast: Euro vulnerable after ECB and stronger US data