Euro Rises On Rates

The Euro rises on rates Friday after remarks by a European Central Bank member revived expectations of higher interest rates in the euro zone. The single currency has been intermittently pressured this week by Middle East tensions and investors focusing on the 17-nation currency bloc’s still-unresolved debt problems. But Friday, ECB executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi momentarily shifted the market’s focus, by saying the central bank must monitor the Euro’s rising price pressures more vigilantly.

Bini Smaghi’s remarks weren’t substantively different from those made by other ECB policymakers recently. In fact, several of them sought to downplay the notion that borrowing costs would increase in the near term.

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