Can 'Super Mario' Save the Euro?
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The euro is getting pummeled, and the upcoming European Central Bank meeting is unlikely to change its course.
The past week was a rough one for the euro, what with a crisis in Hungary, a raft of government bond sales, the looming threat of sovereign credit-rating cuts, and disappointing economic data. Next week won't be any better, says Amelia Bourdeau, director of foreign exchange at Westpac Institutional Bank.
"I'm very cautious on the euro," she says, especially with a meeting of the European Central Bank on the horizon as grim economic indicators pile up. Bourdeau told CNBC's Melissa Leeshe doesn't expect the bank's president, Mario Draghi, to announce an interest rate cut despite the gloomy headlines, but she's not sure anything the bank does could help the euro right now.
Rebecca Patterson, chief markets strategist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Institutional, agrees. "In recent months, when the ECB did cut, the euro fell. But when policy makers are seen as not acting fast enough to stem the crisis, the euro falls anyway," she says. "It's a matter of degree but not direction."
The picture in the U.S. is very different, Bourdeau says, noting that comments from Federal Reserve officials next week are likely to highlight the differences between the prospects for the U.S. and European economies - with the dollar reaping some benefit.
Bourdeau wants to sell the euro against the dollar, entering the trade at 1.2760 and looking for a move to 1.2500, with a stop at 1.2830.
You can watch the discussion on this videotape.
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