EUR/USD Forecast: Continues to find resistance near 1.1430-35 area, Euro-zone flash PMIs eyed

The EUR/USD pair ticked higher on Thursday, albeit lacked any strong conviction in an otherwise a quiet day in the FX market due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the US. Speculations that the Fed might pause the rate hike cycle as early as spring 2019, especially after the Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida's dovish comments last Friday, encouraged investors to continue selling the US Dollar, which turned out to be one of the key factors providing a minor lift to the major.

The uptick seemed rather unaffected by the latest ECB monetary policy meeting minutes, wherein the central bank acknowledged that risks to the economic outlook are skewed to the downside amid uncertainties related to global trade. Meanwhile, the central bank has already committed that the policy rates would stay on hold until at least the summer of 2019 to ensure that inflation returns sustainably to the target of below, but close to, 2%.

The pair traded with a mild positive bias for the third consecutive session and held steady above the 1.1400 handle through the Asian session on Friday. Market participants now look forward to the release of flash Euro-zone manufacturing and services PMI, which might influence the shared currency and produce some short-term trading opportunities during the European session. The US economic docket lacks any major market-moving economic data and hence, the pair seems more likely to continue with its subdued price-action on the last trading day of the week. 

Even from a technical perspective, nothing has changed much except that the 1.1425-35 region has been reaffirmed as an immediate strong hurdle, which if cleared decisively might assist the pair to make a fresh attempt towards testing 50-day SMA, nearing the key 1.1500 psychological mark. 

On the flip side, bearish traders are likely to wait for a follow-through weakness below the 1.1370-60 support area, below which the pair is likely to accelerate the fall towards the 1.1300 round figure mark before eventually heading back towards challenging YTD lows, around the 1.1215 region.