EUR/USD: bulls defending the 1.23 handle as market's discount Fed hikes on soft wages
- EUR/USD: 1.23 holding for now while US CPI / retail sales are in focus.
- EUR/USD: US wages disappoint and dollar sidelined.
EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.2309 with a high of 1.2314 and a low of 1.2306 in early Asia as we enter the Tokyo session on a week where traders will be now looking to the US CPI and retail sales as the next major catalyst.
Mixed dollar tone, macro backdrop is benign - BBH
The N.Korean headlines where Trump said he plans to meet N.Korea's leader after the promise to give up nuclear weapons was a boost for risk sentiment at the end of last week and was supportive of the greenback. Also, EUR/USD was opening 0.81% lower in European trade after Draghi delivered a cautious tone post-ECB (ECB staff eyes rate rise in mid-2019).
However, EUR/USD was able to hold on to a 1.2294-1.2322 range before the US session despite German industrial output dropping 0.1% mm vs a +0.5% f/c where Germany's exports also dropped 0.5% vs 0.3% f/c, with imports -0.5% vs 0.0% f/c, (data blamed on seasonal factors).
Market less hawkish?
When NY traders walked in, EUR/USD fell to 1.2273 initially on the headline on the nonfarm payrolls but then the dollar took a bearish turn and dropped across the board due to the assessment of the soft wages.
Feb Nonfarm payrolls arrived as 313k betaing the 200k jobs forecasted forecast and against the 200k prev that were revised to 239k, doing little to rescue the greenback where traders concentrated mostly on average earnings YY, 2.6% vs 2.8% forecasted and 2.9% prev, 2.8% (revised).
EUR/USD levels
Technicals lean bullish and the RSIs are heading higher with the price holding above the important 50-D SMA at 1.2273. A break there opens risk to 1.22 the figure / 1.2180. To the upside, the 21-D SMA at 1.2332 and 1.2380 guards 1.24 the figure and 1.2440. On the wide, the 2008-2018 resistance line is located at 1.2680 ahead of a wider 1.3190 as being the 50% retracement of the move down from 2008.