In several market‑stress episodes between January 2025 and April 2026, the euro behaved as a modest safe‑haven currency, appreciating by roughly 0.1 % on average during risk‑off days, compared with almost 0.7 % for the Swiss franc. Notable events included the U.S. tariff announcement on 2 April 2025, when the euro, Swiss franc and Japanese yen gained while the U.S. dollar fell and Treasury yields rose. A similar pattern appeared after U.S. Justice Department subpoenas and tariff threats toward European imports. The war in the Middle East caused an initial euro depreciation that later partially recovered as tensions eased, whereas the U.S. dollar first rose and then fell. U.S. Treasury holdings by central banks fell to a March 2026 low of $2.7 trillion, the lowest since 2012. The report stresses that deeper, more liquid euro‑area capital markets are needed to absorb such flows.
© European Central Bank, 2025.
Summary derived from the ECB website (https://www.ecb.europa.eu ).
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