EUR/USD is continuing higher after having settled above 1.25, but hasn’t tackled higher resistance just yet. Technical trading is going quite well. The common currency is supported by the better than expected German business confidence. The big focus today comes from the US with the meeting minutes of the FOMC.
Here’s a quick update on technicals, fundamentals and sentiment moving the pair.
- Asian session: The pair settled above 1.25 and eventually continued higher.
- Current range:Â 1.25 to 1.2570
Further levels in both directions:
- Below: 1.25, 1.2440, 1.2360, 1.2250, 1.2140, 1.2042.
- Above: 1.2570, 1.2620 and 1.2660
- 1.2570 is key resistance
- 1.2360 is the multi-year low and 1.25 is a very round number.
EUR/USD Fundamentals
- 9:00 Euro-zone Current Account. Exp. 21.3 billion. Actual 30 billion.
- 13:30 USÂ Building Permits. Exp. 1.04 million.
- 13:30 US Housing Starts. Exp. 1.03 million.
- 19:00 US FOMC Meeting Minutes.
* All times are GMT.
For more events and lines, see the EUR/USD.
EUR/USD Sentiment
- FOMC Minutes: In the last Fed decision, QE3 finally came to an end and Yellen also surprised with a bullish stance about the job market. In addition, they did not seem to concerned about inflation nor about Europe. Will these concerns be reflected now? For September’s meeting, the minutes were more dovish than the statement. The analysis of the meeting minutes is likely to continue long hours after the actual release.
- Germany enjoys more good data: After long months of decline, the ZEW business confidence has finally risen and regained a positive figure. This joined the previous positive release. The euro-zone’s powerhouse managed to score a 0.1% growth rate in Q3, avoiding two consecutive quarters of contraction. The whole euro-zone grew by 0.2%. Despite escaping the R word, this is still very poor growth.
- Mersch and Draghi talk QE: ECB member Yves Mersch talked about buying state bonds, gold, shares and ETFs as potential ways to expand the ECB’s balance sheet. This wide shopping list is probably needed to expand the central bank’s balance sheet by 1 trillion euros. ETFs are being bought in Japan and this is a bold proposal. Draghi followed with basically repeating the text of the previous rate decision, but also specifically mentioned buying bonds – QE.
- Confident Americans: US retail sales grew more than expected in October and consumer confidence for November increased ahead of Thanksgiving. This good news joins the “quits†component in the JOLTs report, which showed that the number of Americans quitting their jobs is at the highest level since 2008. This is another sign of confidence.
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