EUR/USD weakens farther below 1.1300 handle, fresh 2-week lows

   •  The EUR continues to be weighed down by today’s dismal Euro-zone PMIs.
   •  Mostly upbeat US monthly retail sales data provides a strong lift to the USD.
   •  Technical selling further collaborates towards accelerating the downfall.

The bearish pressure around the shared currency remains unabated, with the EUR/USD pair falling further below the 1.1300 handle to fresh two-week lows.

After a brief consolidation, following today's intraday slump led by dismal Euro-zone PMI prints the pair met with some fresh supply during the early North-American session and tumbled to an intraday low level of 1.1270.

The latest leg of a sharp slide over the past hour or so was solely led by a strong follow-through US Dollar buying interest, further supported by better than expected control group retail sales data and an upward revision of the previous month's already upbeat readings.

“US retail sales show a strong start to the holiday shopping season. The headline number was affected by falling gas prices but the 0.9% control group and the revision to October, up to 0.7% from 0.3% to point to continuing robust consumer spending and GDP,” Joseph Trevisani, a senior market analyst at FXStreet commented on the report after it was released this Friday.

The downfall could further be attributed to some fresh technical selling, especially after today's decisive break below a short-term ascending trend-line support near the 1.1300 handle. Hence, a subsequent fall, back towards challenging yearly lows, now looks a distinct possibility.

Technical levels to watch

The 1.1260 level could possibly act as an intermediate support ahead of the 1.1215 region, below which the pair is likely to break through the 1.1200 handle and head towards testing the 1.1160 support area. On the flip side, the 1.1300 handle now becomes immediate resistance, which if cleared might trigger a short-covering bounce towards the 1.1335-40 supply zone.