Euro exceeds $1.17 and reaches a maximum of three months

However, by 4:30 p.m. (Lisbon time), the euro was already below this barrier by negotiating at $1.1684.

The European Central Bank (ECB) set the euro reference exchange rate at 1,1681 dollars.

The euro was pressed for the disclosure of unemployment data in the US.

The number of applications for unemployment benefit fell by 6,000 last week from 212,000 to 206,000 in the United States, the US Department of Labour reported today.

Unemployment benefit applications are an indicator of redundancies, and economists follow us closely because they are used as a measure of labour market developments.

Over the past year, applications have remained at a historically low interval between about 200,000 and 230,000 per week.

On Wednesday, it was also revealed that some members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) recommended an increase in interest rates if inflation does not fall.

“ Some participants estimated it would probably be necessary to tighten monetary policy, if inflation does not decrease”, reads in the minutes released on Wednesday.

At the meeting concerned, the Fed decided to keep the interest rates unchanged at 3.5% – 3.75%.

Of the 12 voting members, nine voted to maintain interest rates, while the presidents of the Cleveland, Minneapolis and Dallas reserves advocated an increase of 0.25 percentage points.

In July, the inflation rate slowed to 3.4%.