Interest rate cuts are still some way off, according to two of the most senior figures in the European Central Bank.
Strong data from Germany have bolstered ECB hopes that Europe can withstand the slowdown in the US.
Yesterday, the Bundesbank president, Mr Ernst Welteke, repeated his view that the time was not right yet for a cut in euro zone interest rates but the ECB was closely watching what kind of impact the US slowdown might have.
"We still feel it is not yet the time to reduce interest rates," Mr Welteke, a member of the ECB's governing council, told CNN International.
German manufacturing orders jumped 2.7 per cent in December, far higher than the market had been predicting. French consumer confidence also hit a record high in January.
The data also boosted the euro, which rose above $0.93, closing at $0.9333 from $0.9308 a day earlier.
The currency could move back to parity with the dollar in the coming months, said Mr Horst Siebert, one of the German government's panel of independent economic advisers, in a magazine interview this week.
"It is feasible that the euro will move back towards dollar parity," he said in an interview to be published in today's edition of the German weekly WirtschaftsWoche.
- (Additional reporting Reuters)
