EUR/USD Price Forecast: Holding ground ahead of more clarity

EUR/USD Current price: 1.1740

• The United States government shutdown continues, markets taking it with a pinch of salt.
• US Challenger Job Cuts unexpectedly fell in August by 37% from the previous month.
• EUR/USD holds on to familiar levels with speculative interest on pause.

The EUR/USD pair trades uneventfully on Thursday, currently hovering around the 1.1740 level. Market players seem to have already digested the United States (US) governmental pause, and while certain caution persists, the overall market mood is positive. Wall Street closed in the green on Wednesday, while the US Dollar (USD) pared its slide. Other than against safe-haven assets, the Greenback holds within familiar levels.

Meanwhile, the Eurozone macroeconomic calendar was quite scarce. The EU just offered the August Unemployment Rate, which unexpectedly rose to 6.3% from the previous 6.2%, also above expectations. As for the US, locally based employers announced 54,064 job cuts in September, a 37% drop from the 85,979 cuts announced in August, according to the Challenger Job Cuts report. The USD ticked marginally higher with the news, but showed no relevant reaction.

The scheduled US Initial Jobless Claims and Factory Orders figures were not released, as widely anticipated amid the federal shutdown.

EUR/USD short-term technical outlook

The daily chart for the EUR/USD pair shows it is confined to a tight intraday range for a third consecutive day, unable to advance beyond a flat 20 Simple Moving Average (SMA), while holding above a mildly bullish 100 SMA, the latter at around 1.1600. Technical indicators have shown no signs of life, still seesawing around their midlines without clear directional strength.

The 4-hour chart for the EUR/USD pair shows sellers remain aligned around a flat 100 SMA, while buyers defend the downside around an also directionless 200 SMA. The 20 SMA, in the meantime, lies flat midway between the longer ones. Finally, the Momentum indicator retreats after crossing its midline into positive territory, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator also aims lower at around 51, suggesting limited speculative interest around the pair.

Support levels: 1.1710 1.1685 1.1650

Resistance levels: 1.1780 1.1830 1.1880