LONDON—The euro weakened broadly on Thursday as disappointing German and French PMI data confirmed the eurozone economy is struggling to gain traction, prompting traders to trim bets on big interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank.
High prices in the eurozone meant demand for manufactured goods fell in June at the fastest rate since May 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, with S&P Global’s headline factory Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) falling to a near two-year low of 52.0 from 54.6.
“The PMIs were certainly not so strong as anticipated,” said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital in London….