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In a week where global trade has been on the upswing, a global currency meltdown, and economic growth in the United States has been the hottest topic, the European Union’s foreign exchange market is still seeing significant volatility, particularly around the eurozone’s two largest currency-exchange partners.
A Reuters analysis of data from the Eurozone Exchange Rates Service shows that the European Central Bank has been forced to intervene twice in the last week in the currency market.
The first time was last Wednesday, when the ECB said it was withdrawing $25 billion from its euro-zone-wide foreign exchange reserves.
The second time came last Friday, when it suspended $8 billion in assets to cover the loss of $5 billion in the eurozone exchange rate.
It’s a clear sign of how much the ECB’s response to a massive trade-related crisis has shifted the market.
In addition to the monetary intervention, the ECB also raised the short-term interest rate to 0.25 percent, which means that its purchases of the euro have increased over the past week, but its purchases from the dollar are still below levels seen just a few weeks ago.
The move has also prompted traders to speculate that the ECB may be planning to reduce its own asset purchases.
But, with the European economy showing signs of recovery, the market is likely to continue to rally for a while longer.
For the European currency, the euro is now trading at $1.1072 against the dollar, up 2.1 percent from last week’s close.
That’s the highest level since last September, when euro rates were at $0.979.
For crude oil, Brent crude oil futures, the most common source of international supply, are trading at a new 52-week high of $48.83 per barrel, up more than 3 percent from a week ago.
Brent is now worth more than $100 per barrel in the European market, according to the International Energy Agency.
And it’s now the biggest single commodity traded by the global oil industry.
Brent crude is up nearly 8 percent year-to-date.
The other major commodity that has been moving higher this week is crude oil from Saudi Arabia, which has jumped nearly 5 percent since last week.
Brent oil has gained nearly 6 percent year to date.
The S&P 500 is up more 5.5 percent.
For a second week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up about 6.5 points, or 0.3 percent, to 21,934.
That is its best weekly gain since April 2017, when its record high was reached.
And for the S&amt composite index, it’s up about 8.3 points, an 8.1-percent gain.
The Nasdaq Composite is up 8.5 cents, or 1.7 percent.
The Dow Jones is up 1.4 percent, the S &T is up 5.6 percent and the Nasdaq is up 3.2 percent.
With more volatility in the markets, investors are likely to keep pushing prices higher.
But for now, the major currency-related trade has pushed prices to new record highs.
Brent has jumped more than 6 percent over the last three weeks, while crude has surged by more than 10 percent over that period.
That has led to a rally in both the dollar and euro, which is one reason why the dollar has been so strong lately.
Brent prices are up more or less in line with the dollar as the global economy recovers.
But that is still well below what the euro was trading at just a couple weeks ago, when Brent was up more in line the dollar than the euro.
That prompted the European central bank to take out an emergency $25-billion round of emergency purchases from its reserves on Wednesday, as it sought to cushion the blow from the currency crisis.
