Euro declines to near two-month trough ahead of Lagarde's speech

Euro declined in European trade for a second session against dollar, almost hitting two-month lows ahead of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde's speech later today ahead of the European Parliament. 

Dollar extended its gains to 11-week highs on alternative investment demand amid bets the Federal Reserve will maintain high US interest rates for an extended period of time. 

EUR/USD fell 0.3% to 1.0683, with a session-high at 1.0711, after losing 0.5% on Friday, resuming losses after a recovery from two-month lows at 1.0635. 

Euro lost 0.2% last week against dollar, the fourth weekly loss in a row, and the longest such streak of weekly losses this year amid concerns about a gap in interest rates between Europe and the US. 

Lagarde 

ECB President Christine Lagarde is due to testify before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, in Brussels.

Lagarde said on Thursday that inflation in the euro zone remains too high and will likely remain so for a long period of time. 

Lagarde added there's still no proof that core inflation has peaked yet, with still some space available for policy tightening and interest rate hies in Europe.

European Rates

Recent inflation data showed European consumer prices fell to 15-month lows in May, reducing inflationary pressures on ECB policymakers. 

The Dollar

The dollar index rose 0.3% today for another session, almost hitting 11-week highs at 104.69 against a basket of major rivals.

US non-farm payrolls surged past estimates in May, however wages were slower than expected and unemployment rose from recent 53-year lows, paving the way for the Fed to snap its policy tightening path. 

Several Fed officials indeed said recently they'd prefer the Fed to stop its current path of policy tightening and conduct deeper studies on US economic conditions.

Bets on a US Fed rate hike now moved from June to July, with a 55% likelihood of a 0.25% rate hike at the July meeting.