European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker has voiced his concerns that when the UK leaves the European Union there will be a €13bn a year gap to fill.
He called on the remaining 27 EU states to agree to pay more funds, which will no doubt agitate some countries who may already have support for wanting to leave the EU. Following Jean-Claude Juncker’s speech the Euro lost ground against several currencies as investors’ seemed concerned over the scale of the problem.
Even with the Eurozone currently experiencing a bit of a boom from recent data showing its positive economic performance, it may not be enough to fill in the hole in funding that the United Kingdom is going to leave.
Unemployment figures and Production data released this morning
Shortly this morning the latest reading of Unemployment data will be released for the Eurozone. There is an expectation that the level will drop from 8.8% to 8.7% which could provide a small boost for Euro exchange rates.
If there was to be an unexpected outcome to the release then that could have a more negative effect on markets. If the data is worse than forecast then I would not be surprised to see the Euro give up ground once more against other major currencies.
Towards the end of the week, on Thursday, Industrial Production data will also be released. This has been one of the Eurozone’s strongest sectors of late with a lot of the positive economic data recently being announced from this area. Compared to previous months there is expected to be an improvement from 0.2% to 0.8%. However, the consensus is for a year-on-year drop which suggests the Eurozone mini-boom could be coming to an end.
Growth within a sector cannot be indefinite and there could start to be a slump from a data perspective as EU economic performance falls back off the recent highs. With concerns surrounding the Italian Elections, German coalition talks and the Catalonia situation, the Eurozone could be in for a volatile 2018, with much in the balance. Any movement off the beaten track and uncertainty could start to take its toll on the single currency.