London Forex Report: No Deal In Doha

 | Apr 18, 2016 04:57AM ET

London Forex Report: Disappointment over failure to reach an agreement on oil production freeze by the world major oil producers at a meeting over the weekend had pushed oil prices back down below the US$40/ barrel handles. This pared hopes of a sustainable rebound in oil prices that could help lift many oil-exporting countries out of its current doldrums. In the US, contrary to upticks seen in recent manufacturing indices, be it nationwide or regional, industrial production fell more than expected by 0.6% MoM in March amid continued contractions in all the three main sectors, led by the steepest decline in manufacturing output in a year and bigger fall in mining production. Slowing global backdrop and strong greenback are expected to continue dampen demand for US goods, hence exerting further pressure on overall growth and further dimming the outlook of Fed rate normalization. USD weakened Friday following a set of soft US data that dampened further the tightening prospects of the Fed. The USD Index slipped 0.22% to 94.69 after sliding through European and early US trades.

EUR/USD
Outlook: Short Term (1-3 Days): Neutral – Medium Term (1-3 Weeks): Bearish

Fundamental: EUR surged to an intraday high of 1.1317 against the USD after the worse-than-expected US Michigan Confidence data. However, it retreated to 1.1280 at Friday NY close. Euro Zone February Trade Balance was released as 20.2b euros, worse than the expectation 21.5b. Mario Draghi, the president of ECB, said ECB will do anything necessary to boost inflation and so far has not seen that expansion monetary policies are creating asset bubbles.

Technical: 1.1220 support survives on the initial test as 1.1330 now becomes resistance. A breach of 1.1220 opens 1.1140 as the next downside objective.

Interbank Flows: Bids 1.12 stops below. Offers 1.1350 stops above
Retail Sentiment: Neutral
Trading Take-away: Neutral