The euro hit a fresh two-decade low against the dollar on Tuesday as fears of tighter US Federal Reserve monetary policy and a European energy crisis darkened investor sentiment.
Europe’s common currency fell as much as 0.4 per cent to $0.9899 reaching a fresh 20-year low, having dropped below parity with the dollar on Monday, as concerns about Russia choking off gas supplies to Europe in retaliation for western support for Ukraine clouded the eurozone economic outlook.
The currency has slumped 2.9 per cent against the dollar so far in August, its third straight month of declines.
The move reflects both rising jitters about how the energy crisis will affect Europe’s economy and expectations that the US central bank will continue aggressively raising interest rates. Higher rates typically make a country’s debt market look more alluring to foreign investors because it boosts the payout they can receive from holding bonds issued in that currency.
Surveys of business executives in the euro area, which were released on Tuesday, highlighted concerns about the bloc’s economy. The S&P Global purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.2 in August from 49.9 the previous month, pointing to a pick-up in the rate of contraction in business activity.
“Today’s euro area data was in line with our expectation of subdued manufacturing activity and a slowing in services momentum,” said economists at Goldman Sachs.
In equities, Europe’s Stoxx 600 share index slipped 0.3 per cent in afternoon dealings, having dropped by its most in more than a month on Monday. Futures trading on Tuesday implied that Wall Street’s S&P 500 share index would tick up 0.1 per cent on Tuesday, having closed 2.1 per cent lower in the previous session in its steepest daily drop in more than two months.
The moves came ahead of the Jackson Hole central bankers’ symposium later this week, at which Fed chair Jay Powell is expected to underline a commitment to raising interest rates to quell consumer demand in order to tackle stubbornly high inflation.
“Chair Powell is likely to state that the Fed will raise rates as far as it takes, and for as long as it takes,” said Standard Chartered strategist Steve Englander.
Minutes from the Fed’s July monetary policy meeting — at which it raised its main interest rate by 0.75 percentage points to a target range of 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent — showed that policymakers discussed keeping rates at levels that would restrict the US economy.
In bond markets, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield fell 0.01 percentage points to 3.02 per cent. This debt yield, which underpins loan pricing worldwide, had climbed in recent days as traders anticipated a hawkish tone from Powell at Jackson Hole.