Euro hurt by contracting German economy

The euro and the pound both weakened versus the US dollar Wednesday after new data showed that the German economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the second quarter and the minutes of the latest meeting of the Bank of England showed a three-way disagreement on where interest rates should go.

There were also indications in the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting minutes that the risk of inflation could be slowing in the UK.

In morning trade in New York the dollar traded at $1.4750 to the euro and at $1.8619 to the pound.

The euro also declined in relation to the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso, to C$1.5688 and 14.944 pesos.

The Canadian dollar was stronger after new data showed that retail sales were up 0.5 percent in June.

The yen, meanwhile, declined versus the US dollar before taking back some losses, with the Japanese currency worth ¥109.7700 at nearly 11 a.m. in New York while at the same time the yen traded at ¥161.9108 to the euro.

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