|

EUR/USD Forecast: Defying 3 downers and rising, more gains to come?

  • EUR/USD is moving up nicely in the last full week of the year.
  • The pair defies three factors that should have brought it down.
  • The technical picture is improving for the pair.

EUR/USD is trading in the mid 1.1300s, up on the day. There are no reasons for the pair to rise, only to fall. When something cannot fall on bad news, it is a great sign of strength. It implies a significant upside potential when good news comes.

Why should the euro/dollar fall?

1) Weak data

The final euro-zone inflation figures for November disappointed with a surprise downgrade of the headline number from 2% to 1.9%. The currency bloc's trade balance surplus continues shrinking, with 12.5 billion in October against 14.2 billion expected and 13 billion in September.

2) Italy

The Italian government reached an agreement on a new budget with a lower deficit. But will it pass muster in Brussels? The European Commission did not immediately respond and will likely ask for more adjustments. Italy's economy shrank in Q3. With a smaller GDP, the EC will probably ask for another reduction in the deficit in order to sustain a lower debt-to-GDP ratio.

All in all, the problems are not resolved.

3) China and the US are clashing again

The US trade envoy had a lot of criticism against China. After a week in which the world's largest economies seemed to take steps to ease tensions, the clash around the talks to reform the WTO does not bode well.

And while stock futures turned lower, the greenback was not able to gain ground against the Euro. This is a bullish sign.

All in all, the pair is showing strength.

EUR/USD Technical Analysis

EUR/USD Technical Analysis December 17 2018

Momentum has turned positive for the pair, albeit only marginally. The turnaround is a bullish sign. The Relative Strength Index is not going anywhere.

1.1350 remain a battle line. It supported the pair in late November, and the 50 Simple Moving Average meets the price there. 1.1380 was a swing high in late November, and 1.1395 was a peak last week. Further above, 1.1430 and 1.1440 are notable. 

1.1330 was a swing low last week and a weak line of support. 1.1305 was a swing low twice in recent weeks, and 1.1270 is a double-bottom. 1.1215 follows: it was the low point of the year.

Author

Yohay Elam

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

More from Yohay Elam
Share:

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD loses ground below 1.1850 ahead of FOMC Minutes

The EUR/USD pair loses traction near 1.1840 during the early European session on Wednesday, pressured by renewed US Dollar demand. Traders brace for the Federal Open Market Committee Minutes for signals on future rate cuts, which will be released later on Wednesday. 

When is the UK CPI data and how could it affect GBP/USD?

The United Kingdom Consumer Price Index data for January is scheduled to be published today at 07:00 GMT. GBP/USD trades slightly lower at around 1.3556 as of writing. The 20-period Exponential Moving Average trends lower at 1.3593 and continues to cap rebounds. Price holds beneath this gauge, maintaining a short-term bearish bias.

Gold: Is the $5,000 level back in sight?

Gold snaps a two-day downtrend, as recovery gathers traction toward $5,000 on Wednesday. The US Dollar recovers from the overnight sell-off as rebalancing trades resume ahead of Fed Minutes. The 38.2% Fib support holds on the daily chart for now. What does that mean for Gold?

Pi Network rally defies market pressure ahead of its first anniversary

Pi Network is trading above $0.1900 at press time on Wednesday, extending the weekly gains by nearly 8% so far. The steady recovery is supported by a short-term pause in mainnet migration, which reduces pressure on the PI token supply for Centralized Exchanges. The technical outlook focuses on the $0.1919 resistance as bullish momentum increases.

UK jobs market weakens, bolstering rate cut hopes

In the UK, the latest jobs report made for difficult reading. Nonetheless, this represents yet another reminder for the Bank of England that they need to act swiftly given the collapse in inflation expected over the coming months. 

Top 3 Price Prediction: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple face downside risk as bears regain control

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple remain under pressure on Wednesday, with the broader trend still sideways. BTC is edging below $68,000, nearing the lower consolidating boundary, while ETH and XRP also declined slightly, approaching their key supports.