EUR/USD inches down, as BOE looks to shield pound from Brexit risks



Location: Investing.com -- EUR/USD fell mildly on Tuesday, briefly dropping below 1.10 for the first time since early-February, as Bank of England governor Mark Carney admitted the risks of a potential Brexit from the European bloc have weighed on the pound since last week's agreement between the UK and the European Union paved the way for a referendum in June. The currency pair traded between 1.0990 and 1.1124, before settling at 1.1016, down 0.0015 or 0.14% on the session. Since surging to three-month highs against the dollar in mid-February, the euro has closed lower against its American counterpart in seven of the last eight sessions. During that span, the euro has lost roughly 2.4% versus the greenback. EUR/USD likely gained support at 1.0538, the low from December 3 and was met with resistance at 1.1496, the high from Oct. 15. One day after the pound plummeted almost 2% against the dollar, the sterling remained at six-year lows on Tuesday as investors continue to gauge the uncertainty related to Britain's historic decision on June 23. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday, Carney testified that the referendum on Britain's membership in the EU is driving demand for protection of the sterling. "Particularly, there has been a sharp increase in risk reversals - buying more downside protection against future falls in sterling around the referendum date as opposed to upside protection," Carney said in his testimony. "They have spiked to levels consistent with around the height of the Scottish referendum." If economic conditions in the UK weaken as a result of fears related to Britain's possible departure from the bloc, Carney said the BOE would not hesitate to lowering interest rates even further. The BOE's benchmark rate has remained at record-lows of 0.5% for nearly seven years. Early next month, Carney and BOE Deputy Governor for Financial Stability Jon Cunliffe will appear again before lawmakers in a hearing devoted specifically to the ramifications of a potential Brexit. A UK departure is also expected to weigh on the euro if other top nations in the euro zone follow suit by applying for special status from the EU. In the U.S., further gains in the dollar were restrained by a flurry of soft economic data. On Tuesday morning, The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index for February fell sharply to 92.2 from a revised 97.8 a month earlier. With the considerable declines, consumer confidence in the U.S. fell to its lowest level since last July. Analysts expected the index to dip mildly by 0.6 to 97.2. Within the report, though, there were only signs of slight erosion in consumer confidence. Respondents who asserted that jobs are plentiful decreased mildly from 23.0 to 20.1%. Meanwhile, respondents who claimed that jobs are hard to get, increased moderately from 23.6% to 24.2%. The category is among one of the most closely-watched details of the survey. Elsewhere, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said its Manufacturing Index fell to minus-4 in February, sliding to its lowest level since September. The subdued readings could compel analysts to scrutinize next week's U.S. February jobs report more closely. Following solid gains of 0.5% in average hourly earnings in January, a strong report this month may provide hawkish members of the Federal Open Market Committee with more ammunition in their arguments for an imminent interest rate hike. A host of FOMC members including Fed governors Stanley Fischer, Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard are scheduled to speak this week. Any rate hikes by the Fed this year are viewed as bullish for the dollar as foreign investors pile into the greenback in an effort to capitalize on higher yields. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, gained more than 0.10% to an intraday high of 97.58, before closing at 97.46. Yields on the U.S. 10-Year lost three basis points to 1.72%, while yields on the Germany 10-Year added one basis point to 0.18%.

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