EUR/USD hovers around 1.0860 ahead of Fed's Powell speech

The EUR/USD pair retreats to the 1.0860 area during the early Asian trading hours on Friday. The downtick of the major pair is backed by the firmer US Dollar (USD) and higher US Treasury bond yields. Traders await the German IFO Business Climate on Friday ahead of the Fed's Chair Powell. 

The US Fed decided to keep its benchmark overnight borrowing rate in a range between 5.25% and 5.5% on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell did not indicate the timing of rate cuts but he expected to lower the interest rate before the end of this year. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, futures markets have prices in 80% odds that the Fed will start cutting the rate in the June meeting.

About the data, the US S&P Global Composite PMI arrived at 52.2 in March versus 52.5 prior. Additionally, the Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.5 in March from 52.2 in February, above the market expectation of 51.7. The Services PMI dropped to 51.7 in March from the previous reading of 52.3, weaker than the estimation of 52.0.

On the other hand, the HCOB's latest Purchasing Managers Index survey on Thursday revealed that the Eurozone Manufacturing PMI arrived at 45.7 in March versus 46.5 prior, worse than the consensus forecast of 47.0. Meanwhile, the Services PMI figure improved to 51.1 in March from 50.2 in February, beating the estimate of 50.5. The Eurozone PMI Composite rose to 49.9 in March versus 49.7 expected and February’s 46.3 reading. 

Moving on, traders will monitor the German IFO Business Climate, along with the Fed's Chair Powell and Barr speeches on Friday. Next week, German Retail Sales for February and the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter (Q4) will be released. These events could give a clear direction to the EUR/USD pair.