Latest data released by Markit - 21 June 2019
That's a much stronger-than-expected reading and the surprise to the upside comes from both the manufacturing and services sector. The euro is sent to the highs of the day now with EUR/USD rising from about 1.1290 to 1.1310 levels at the moment.
With the improvement here, it begs the question, did Draghi get some of the rough numbers about euro area economic conditions (from his own analysts) for June beforehand?
If so, then you have to wonder there has to be something else to justify his dovish message that we saw earlier this week. Let's see what the German figures will serve up later.
Update: Well, after a few minutes to think about it, inflation expectations were indeed taking a nosedive prior to Draghi's speech so perhaps his dovish tones were well-justified. But the rebound in French business activity here will certainly be a welcome sign but I reckon it's going to need to be sustainable to convince the ECB to shift away from their more dovish tone that they've adopted now.
