EUR/USD: Euro at downward sloping trend resistance

Mario Blascak, PhD Independent Analyst

The EUR/USD recovered from Catalan pro-independence push lower on Friday and managed to gain further after four days of Christmas vacations on Wednesday.

Although the EUR/USD has recovered from lows of $1.1815, the push higher is blocked by downward sloping trendline resistance level near $1.1900.

Currency markets are seen range-bound during three working days separating Christmas vacations from New Year’s Eve with no major economic data releases expected this week.

The US pending home sales and the Conference Board consumer confidence represent major data releases for Wednesday with limited market impact.

While the EUR/USD is limited by a downward sloping trend resistance on the upside, further gains are also limited by the Fast Stochastics moving into the Overbought territory luring sellers instead.

On the lower side, 100-day moving average at $1.1800 is the first hurdle to overcome with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level of $1.1730 being the next level.

EUR/USD daily chart

Author

Mario Blascak, PhD

Independent Analyst

Dr. Mário Bla&scaron;čák worked in professional finance and banking for 15 years before moving to journalism. While working for Austrian and German banks, he specialized in covering markets and macroeconomics.

EUR/USD remains bid, focus stays on 1.1900

EUR/USD has broken its two-day run of losses and is ticking modestly higher on Thursday, hovering around the 1.1880 area as the US Dollar struggles to find clear direction. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rose more than expected, taking a bit of shine off the Greenback, but markets are largely in wait-and-see mode ahead of Friday’s US CPI release.

GBP/USD sticks to the bid bias, still below 1.3700

GBP/USD is trading with decent gains around 1.3650 on Thursday. Indeed, Cable is attempting to shake off the weakness seen earlier in the week amid another choppy session for the Greenback, while a run of disappointing UK data has so far failed to derail the pair’s tentative recovery.

Gold recedes slightly, trades below $5,100

Gold remains stuck in choppy trade on Thursday, deflating marginally just below the $5,100 mark per troy ounce as the US Dollar drifts without a clear trend. Softer US Treasury yields across the curve are offering some support, but with markets treading carefully ahead of Friday’s US CPI release, conviction remains limited and price action continues to look hesitant.