EURUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the EUR rose 0.29% against the USD and closed at 1.1136 on Friday.
In economic news, data showed that Euro-zone’s final services PMI expanded less-than-expected to a level of 52.8 in October, indicating that the nation’s services sector is on the growth-path but struggling to gain traction. Markets expected the index to rise to a level of 53.5, following a reading of 52.2 in the previous month. The preliminary figures had indicated a rise to a level of 53.5.
Elsewhere, in Germany, the final Markit services PMI surprisingly advanced to a level of 54.2 in October, suggesting that Euro-zone’s largest economy is set for solid growth in the fourth quarter. The index registered a level of 50.9 in the previous month while markets expected it to remain steady at a level of 54.1, recorded in the preliminary print.
In the US, unemployment rate dropped to 4.9% in October, at par with market expectations, pointing to a healthy labour market. In the prior month, unemployment rate had recorded a level of 5.0%. Additionally, the nation’s non-farm payrolls rose less-than-expected by 161.0K in October, highlighting that employers maintained a strong pace of hiring, thus supporting the case of a Fed interest rate hike in December. Non-farm payrolls recorded a revised advance of 191.0K in the previous month whereas markets anticipated for an advance of 175.0K. Further, the nation’s average hourly earnings of all employees increased more than expected by 2.8% YoY in October, growing to the highest level in seven years, compared to a revised gain of 2.7% in the previous month and surpassing market anticipations for a gain of 2.6%. Moreover, the nation’s trade deficit narrowed to a 19-month low level of $36.4 billion in September, higher than market expectations for the nation to post a trade deficit of $38.0 billion and after recording a revised trade deficit of $40.5 billion in the previous month.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.1079, with the EUR trading 0.51% lower against the USD from Friday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.1042, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.1006. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.1127, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.1176.
Moving ahead, investors would look forward to the Euro-zone’s Sentix investor confidence for November and retail sales for September, accompanied with Germany’s construction PMI for October and factory orders for September, all slated to release in a few hours. Moreover, the US labour market conditions index for October, due to release later in the day, would attract a lot of market attention.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
