EURUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the EUR declined 2.11% against the USD and closed at 1.1103, after the ECB President, Mario Draghi’s comments suggested that the central bank could expand its bond-buying program.
Yesterday, the ECB opted to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.05% at its October monetary policy meeting. Additionally, the ECB Chief, in his press conference post the interest rate announcement, dropped hints that the central bank is ready to beef up its €60 billion a month QE program and that policymakers would re-examine its bond-buying effort at their December meeting. He also highlighted the downside risks to both economic growth and inflation arising from slowdown in China and other developing economies, as well as weak commodity prices.
In other economic news, the Euro-zone’s consumer confidence index deteriorated for the second-consecutive month and slipped more than expected to a nine-month low level of -7.7 in October from -7.1 in September.
In the US, data showed that the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time rose to a level of 259.00 K in the week ended 17 October 2015, less than market expectations of a rise to 265.00 K, thus pointing towards the nation’s healthy labour market. In the prior week, initial jobless claims had recorded a revised level of 256.00 K. Meanwhile, existing home sales in the US surged more than expected by 4.7%, notching its second-highest monthly level since February 2007 on a monthly basis in September. On the other hand, the nation’s house price index rose less than forecasted by 0.3% MoM in August, following a downwardly increase of 0.5% in July. Also, US leading indicators dropped more than market expectations by 0.20% on a monthly basis in September. It followed an increase of 0.1% in the preceding month.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 1.1112, with the EUR trading 0.09% higher from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.1006, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.0900. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.1284, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.1456.
Trading trends in the Euro today are expected to be determined by the preliminary estimate of the services and manufacturing PMI data across the Euro-zone set for release in a few hours. Additionally, investors would also focus on the US manufacturing PMI data, scheduled later today.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
