• EUR/USD refreshes a three-week high near 1.0830 due to multiple tailwinds.
• The Euro strengthens as the far right may fail to gain an outright majority in French elections.
• The US Dollar weakens due to multiple tailwinds, with US NFP in focus.

EUR/USD posts a fresh three-week high near 1.0830 in Friday’s European session. The major currency pair strengthens as the Euro’s outlook improves ahead of the second round of French elections, scheduled for Sunday, and sheer weakness in the US Dollar (USD).

The appeal for the Euro improves amid expectations that the Marine Le Pen-led far-right National Rally would fail to convert its victory of the first round into an absolute majority due to the tactical withdrawal of at least 200 candidates from Sunday’s legislative elections by a coalition of French President Emmanuel Macron-led entrist alliance and the left-wing.

Meanwhile, speculation for the European Central Bank (ECB) delivering subsequent rate cuts on July 18 has diminished as disinflation in the Eurozone appears to be stalling. The preliminary core Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) that excludes volatile items grew steadily by 2.9% year-on-year in June. 

On Friday, investors await the Eurozone Retail Sales data for May, which will be published at 09:00 GMT. The Retail Sales are expected to have expanded by 0.2% in the month after contracting 0.5% in April. Annually, Retail Sales are estimated to have grown marginally by 0.1% after remaining unchanged in April.