The important German ZEW Economic Sentiment surprised and climbed from -15.7 to +6.9 points, beating expectations of a modest rise to -11.4 points.
This pushed EUR/USD above the 1.2960 that capped it beforehand.
This ends 6 consecutive months of negative sentiment. A positive figure represents optimism and a negative one represents pessimism. Also the all-European figure surprised to the upside, climbing from -2.6 to +7.6 points.
For more on the euro, see the EURUSD forecast.