EUR/USD – Euro Shrugs Off Strong German, Eurozone Manufacturing PMIs

 | Jul 24, 2018 04:51AM ET

EUR/USD is hugging the 1.17 line in the Tuesday session. Currently, the pair is trading at 1.1693, up 0.01% on the day. On the release front, German and eurozone manufacturing PMIs beat expectations, but services PMIs missed their forecasts. There are no major US releases. On Wednesday, German Ifo Business Climate is expected to dip to 101.6 points and US New Home Sales is forecast to drop sharply to 671 thousand.

Eurozone and German manufacturing PMIs continue to point to expansion. The German release improved to 57.3, easily beating the estimate of 55.5, while the eurozone reading of 55.1 was above the forecast of 54.7. Both indicators had dropped over six consecutive months and the July releases put an end to that nasty streak. With the tariff war threatening to hurt German and eurozone exports, investors have been keeping a close eye on manufacturing data. Services PMIs were not as strong, as the German and eurozone releases missed their estimates.

The US dollar has steadied this week, after broad losses on Friday. Investors reacted negatively to comments by President Trump which were critical of Federal Reserve monetary policy. On the weekend, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin engaged in damage control, saying at the G-20 meeting that Trump was not interfering with the Fed policy of gradually raising rates. However, investors weren’t buying Mnuchin’s apologetics, and the US dollar continued to lose ground in Monday’s Asian session. There was more for investors to fret over, as Trump also attacked the EU and China for manipulating their currencies and keeping interest rates lower. This has raised concerns that the current global trade tensions could be followed by a currency war. Growing concerns over the dangers of the ongoing trade war were summed up in the final communiqué from the G-20 meeting in Argentina over the weekend, which noted that “heightened trade and geopolitical tensions pose an increased risk to global growth.”

EUR/USD Fundamentals

Tuesday (July 24)

  • 3:00 French Flash Manufacturing PMI. Estimate 52.6. Actual 53.1
  • 3:00 French Flash Services PMI. Estimate 55.7. Actual 55.3
  • 3:30 German Flash Manufacturing PMI. Estimate 55.5. Actual 57.3
  • 3:30 German Flash Services PMI. Estimate 54.6. Actual 54.4
  • 4:00 Eurozone Flash Manufacturing PMI. Estimate 54.7. Actual 55.1
  • 4:00 Eurozone Flash Services PMI. Estimate 55.0. Actual 54.4
  • 9:00 US HPI. Estimate 0.4%
  • 9:45 US Flash Manufacturing PMI. Estimate 55.1
  • 9:45 US Flash Services PMI. Estimate 56.5
  • 10:00 US Richmond Manufacturing Index. Estimate 18
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Wednesday (July 25)

  • 4:00 German Ifo Business Climate. Estimate 101.6
  • 10:00 US New Home Sales. Estimate 671K

*All release times are DST

*Key events are in bold

EUR/USD for Tuesday, July 24, 2018