Who Is Printing More Money, US or Euro Area - Different Perspectives

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Money printing

The score in this race is very tight. The US was the obvious leader at the beginning of the pandemics, but later this begun to change.

1st perspective - from Jan 1, 2020, till now


Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jan 2020 - Sept 2021
1. Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jan 2020 - Sept 2021

The US is the clear leader with +102.2% growth of the Fed balance sheet. The Euro Area result is 76.3%

2nd perspective - June 2020 - September 2021

Here, Europe is leading by 30.0% to 20.8%.

2. Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jul 2020 - Sept 2021

3rd perspective - Jan - Sept 2021

Europe is still leading with a narrow margin - 17.4% to 14.1%.

3. Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jan 2021 - Sept 2021
3. Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jan 2021 - Sept 2021


4th perspective - Jul - Sept 2021

The ECB remains the winner by 3.4% to 2.7%.

3. Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jan 2021 - Sept 2021
4. Fed, ECB balance sheet expansion - Jul 2021 - Sept 2021

At the moment, the monetary base expansion is probably the most important fundamental factor for the EUR/USD exchange rate. The US Fed has expanded its balance sheet extremely fast at the beginning of the pandemics, but later, the ECB took the lead.

The first data for September 2021 shows that Fed may be back. During the first two weeks of September, the Fed expanded its balance sheet by 1.2%, compared to the ECB expansion of 0.7%.

According to our research published in another article, when Fed and ECB print money at the same pace, the USD has a tendency to appreciate (and EUR/USD falls). 

The Data Shows How EUR/USD Has Reacted For Changes In Money Supply 

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Data credits:

1. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US), Assets: Total Assets: Total Assets (Less Eliminations from Consolidation): Wednesday Level [WALCL], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL, September 27, 2021. European Central Bank, Central Bank Assets for Euro Area (11-19 Countries) [ECBASSETSW], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ECBASSETSW, September 27, 2021.

2. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US), Assets: Total Assets: Total Assets (Less Eliminations from Consolidation): Wednesday Level [WALCL], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL, September 27, 2021. European Central Bank, Central Bank Assets for Euro Area (11-19 Countries) [ECBASSETSW], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ECBASSETSW, September 27, 2021.

3. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US), Assets: Total Assets: Total Assets (Less Eliminations from Consolidation): Wednesday Level [WALCL], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL, September 27, 2021. European Central Bank, Central Bank Assets for Euro Area (11-19 Countries) [ECBASSETSW], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ECBASSETSW, September 27, 2021.

4. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US), Assets: Total Assets: Total Assets (Less Eliminations from Consolidation): Wednesday Level [WALCL], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL, September 27, 2021. European Central Bank, Central Bank Assets for Euro Area (11-19 Countries) [ECBASSETSW], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ECBASSETSW, September 27, 2021.