The euro remained below $1 in the fourth week of August, the lowest level since late 2002, as recession fears in Europe reemerged again with a deepening energy crisis. Natural gas prices are approaching €300 per megawatt hour after Russian state-owned energy exporter Gazprom said it would shut down the Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline to Germany for three days of maintenance at the end of August. In addition, flash August Global S&P PMIs showed business activity across the Euro Area contracted for the second straight month, albeit at a softer than expected rate. Germany recorded the sharpest decline in output since June 2020 and activity in France decreased for the first time in a year-and-a-half. Investors now await the ECB monetary policy meeting accounts on Thursday to sound hawkish, after in July the ECB surprised markets and hiked interest rates by 50 bps as inflation in the bloc continues to break record levels.
