EUR/USD trades flat after dovish ECB messaging

Peter Bukov Axiory Global Ltd.

The EURUSD pair showed little desire to move on Thursday, trading absolutely flat during the US session and last seen at around 1.1340.

Traders paid attention to some US data today. Initial jobless claims worsened sharply to 286,000, up from the last week's 231,000. Continuing claims also rose and printed 1.635 million, against 1.551 million a week ago.

Existing home sales also failed to meet estimates and plunged 4.65 month-on-month to 6.18 million. So it looks like rocketing home prices might be deterring people from buying.

On the other hand, the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey improved more than expected in January, rising to 23.2 from 15.4 in December.

Earlier on Thursday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told the virtual World Economic Forum that the conditions that are forcing the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates are not present in the Eurozone, where wages are rising much more slowly, and that over half of the inflation being currently reported is due to energy prices, and thus likely to reverse.

In contrast, German PPI rose 5% month-on-month in December (versus 0.8% forecast), while the yearly gauge rocketed to 24.2%, well above 19.4% expected.

The pair remains stuck in limbo as the upside rally faded quickly last week, but bears look exhausted, and we have seen higher lows and higher highs recently - an indication of a careful uptrend.

On the other hand, the daily MACD indicator will send a bearish signal for the first time since early November, indicating a possible decline in the following days.

Author

Peter Bukov

Axiory Global Ltd.

Peter Bukov is one of Axiory’s leading analysts. He has a master’s degree in Corporate Finance and is highly sought after as a teacher of Forex trading at various universities in Slovakia.

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