The euro inched up on Wednesday, with the dollar's gains from safe-haven demand fading, as Trump said the war with Iran could wind down within two or three weeks.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the next few days would be decisive and said the conflict would intensify if it did not make a deal, pointing to signs of escalation in the conflict.
Preliminary data from the European Commission shows economic sentiment declined in the bloc. Consumer confidence also fell sharply to its lowest level since October 2023.
The ECB now expects growth of 0.9% in 2026, and headline inflation to average 2.6% this year. CPI jumped to 2.5% in March, slightly below exceptions, reflecting a sharp jump in energy prices.
The benchmark Dutch TTF natural gas price has soared this month. Goldman warned European storage will need to attract LNG cargoes away from competing Asian buyers to fill adequately before next winter.
The dependence on fossil fuels has been "brutally exposed" by the war in Iran, with the latest shock showing how quickly an external conflict can disrupt supply chains, a senior fellow at think tank Bruegel said.
The single currency remained firmly below 200 SMA, but bullish MACD divergence signalled resilience. The path of least resistance is a breach of $1.1600.
Asset recap
As of market close on 31 March, among EBC major products, ProShares UltraPro QQQ ETF led gains. The Nasdaq 100 led Wall Street higher carried by growing optimism that energy prices could retreat.
Intel has launched its Core Ultra Series 3 commercial PCs that are built on 18A process node, with Dell among the first to deliver systems using the new chips. The Q4 results saw moderate beats.
In a Monday note, analysts at Goldman Sachs said while risks to their forecast were skewed to the downside in the near term, the medium term picture is bullish on diversification into gold and Western fiscal sustainability.
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