EUR/USD

Weekly Analysis: The greenback won the battle against the Euro last week, breaking support and the bullish trend line seen on the chart below. The economic calendar didn’t reveal major events but optimism about a June rate hike kicked in, helping the US Dollar.

Technical Outlook

After breaking 1.1210, the pair returned to re-test it from below, bouncing lower and thus confirming the level as resistance. The bullish trend line is also broken and the pair is below the 50 days Exponential Moving Average, so all things point towards an extended move south but as we can note, the Stochastic is oversold and the Relative Strength Index is close to its 30 level. This fact increases the chances of a bullish bounce but we expect 1.1060 to be tested this week and there we will probably see a move higher.

Fundamental Outlook

The economic week opens Monday with the release of the German Consumer Price Index, an always important gauge of inflation that can positively affect the Euro if it shows higher numbers; on the US Dollar side, banks will be closed in observance of Memorial Day so we don’t have any major releases. Tuesday the Eurozone CPI Flash Estimate comes out, followed later in the day by the U.S. Consumer Confidence, a survey of about 5,000 households that tries to gauge the overall opinion about job availability, business conditions and economic environment.

Wednesday is a slow day for the Euro, while the greenback will be affected by the release of the U.S. Manufacturing PMI. This is another survey that asks purchasing managers from the manufacturing sector to give their assessment about the overall performance of said sector. Thursday will be the busiest day for the Euro as the ECB announces the interest rate and ECB President Mario Draghi holds his usual press conference. Although the rate is not expected to change, volatility is likely to surge during the press conference, so as always, caution is recommended.

Friday is the greenback’s turn to steal the spotlight with the release of the Non-Farm Employment Change (Non-Farm Payrolls). This indicator shows how many new jobs were created during the previous month and is considered the most important jobs related indicator for the United States. Almost always this release is accompanied by strong movement and increased volatility.

GBP/USD

Last week was overall bullish but the Pound gave back some of the early gains later in the week. The move up seems exhausted now as the pair failed to clearly threaten key resistance.

Technical Outlook

The bullish break of 1.4650 resistance (seen earlier in the week) did not take price into 1.4765 as expected and instead the pair returned below the broken level. This shows that the bulls are starting to fade away and that we will probably see a move into 1.4500 this week; the 50 days Exponential Moving Average is close to 1.4500, thus creating a confluence zone that will be difficult to break but if the bears manage to do that, the pair is likely to start a new short term downtrend.

Fundamental Outlook

Monday UK banks will be closed, celebrating Spring Bank Holiday so the economic calendar is empty. The rest of the week is filled with surveys: Wednesday the Manufacturing PMI comes out, followed Thursday by the Construction PMI and Friday by the Services PMI. These are all leading indicators of economic health, derived from the opinions of purchasing managers from the respective sectors and usually, higher numbers trigger Pound strength. As always, the pair will be directly influenced by the U.S. events scheduled throughout the week.

Written by: Bogdan Giulvezan