Euro Slides Closer to $1.38

The euro lost some of its momentum on Tuesday morning after world leaders decided to remove Russia from international decision making as punishment for Moscow's annexation of Crimea. The common currency traded at $1.3828 at 5:30 GMT. On Monday, the Group of Seven called an emergency meeting and met to discuss how to further isolate Russia in retaliation for the nation's recent actions. The Wall Street Journal reported that the group decided to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight as a result of the Kremlin's decision to send troops into Ukraine despite calls for diplomacy from the rest of the organization. However, the group did leave the door open for Russia to rejoin if “the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion”. The move will likely create a strain on the eurozone, which depends heavily on Russia for natural gas and trade. Eurozone policy makers are already struggling to deepen economic sanctions on Moscow without putting pressure on the already frail eurozone economies. However, PMI data released on Monday helped bouy the common currency as investors saw some improvement in an unlikely place. France, which has long been a dark spot on otherwise positive data releases produced a better than expected PMI score in March. The nation's PMI reading increased to 51.6 in March from 47.9 in February. The figure indicates that France's economy is improving after spending months dragging down its peers. Both services and manufacturing PMI came in above the 50 point mark which indicates expansion at 51.4 and 51.9 respectively.