Euro Likely To Consolidate In The Week Ahead

 | Aug 21, 2017 01:12AM ET

Key Points:

  • Price action takes a sideways direction
  • RSI Oscillator trending lower within neutral territory
  • Pair likely to remain flat in the week ahead but watch for any upside breakouts

The euro continued its process of consolidation over the past week and trended sideways whilst giving up around 75 pips to close at 1.1759. Fundamentally, the pair was impacted by a relatively broad sentiment swing towards the USD which largely overshadowed the stronger than expected EU GDP figures. However, it remains to be seen if the pair will retain this sideways bias in the week ahead. Subsequently, it may be salient to review last week’s events with a view to ascertain what could be potentially looming on the near term horizon.

The euro dollar continued to moderate its recent gains over the past week which saw the pair give up around 75 pips in a gradual slow slide to close around the 1.1759 mark. Although, price action did initially move below near term support it soon rose again to retain its largely sideways direction. In addition, there was a very definite bid towards the USD which also impacted the pair.

This was fuelled by a fall in the U.S. Initial Jobless Claims figures to 232k as well as a rise to 18.9 in the Philly Fed Business Outlook Index and ongoing speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will commence a balance sheet taper in the coming months. Subsequently, this also overshadowed what proved to be a relatively robust EU GDP result of 2.2% and the euro saw little in the way of a bump from the result.