The euro rose slightly on Friday. The exchange rate of the common currency rose after the publication of the minutes of the latest interest rate meeting of the ECB by 0.3 percent to 1.1875 dollars. The monetary watchdogs had discussed a possible reduction in the pace of their trillion dollar emergency bond purchases. However, it was not possible to read from the minutes how the next steps the central bank would take. The ECB announced the result of its strategy review on Thursday. Accordingly, it is aiming for an inflation rate of two percent in the medium term instead of just under two percent as before. What this means in practice for the further course of action by the central bank initially remained unclear. As insiders familiar with the discussions said, the ECB is considering a new monetary policy outlook for the next interest rate meeting on July 22nd.
Speculations about a supply bottleneck drove the oil price. The Brent variety from the North Sea rose by two percent to $ 75.60 per barrel. “The decline in US inventories underpins the assessment that demand there will pick up with the start of the summer travel season,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief analyst at brokerage firm Nissan Securities. At the same time, the production of the US shale oil producers is stagnating. This could lead to rising prices, it said. Despite the recent stabilization, oil prices fell sharply this week. At its peak, the losses were about six dollars. One reason is the uncertainty about the future course of the oil network Opec +. Even after several attempts, the 23 countries failed to agree on a common funding policy. A dispute between the major sponsor Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates prevented an agreement.
© SZ from July 10th, 2021 / amon, Reuters, dpa