EUR/USD rose on Tuesday, supported by a broad-based weakening in U.S. dollar bids as U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation appeared to be cooling faster than expected. Traders continue to await EU Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figures, due in early European trading hours on Wednesday. Meanwhile, investors will turn their attention to upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation figures as risk appetite expands in recovery mode.
Eurozone GDP for the second quarter is expected to remain at previous figures of 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 0.6% year-on-year. Although no change is expected, a sharp deviation in either direction could generate a new round of risk-off selling in Euro markets if the number is low, or reinforce the current bullish stance if growth shows signs of picking up.
U.S. CPI inflation is expected to continue showing signs of cooling in July, with markets anticipating core CPI for the year ending in July to decline to 3.2% from 3.3% last year. Headline CPI is expected to follow the same trend, with median market estimates predicting a decline to 2.9% y-o-y from 3.0% previously.
U.S. PPI inflation fell to 2.2% y-o-y in July, down from the 2.3% estimate and further down from the revised 2.7% in the previous period. Core PPI inflation also fell to 2.4% y-o-y in July, down from an estimated 2.7% and further down from 3.0%. The continued decline in U.S. inflation pressure reinforced risk appetite during the U.S. stock market session, and market bets on a double 50 basis point cut by the Federal Reserve in September increased to 55%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
EUR/USD Daily Technical Analysis for August 14th:
Despite recovering on Tuesday, EUR/USD remains stuck below the previous week’s high, just above 1.1000. Bullish momentum may continue to drive intraday price action higher, but technical fragility poses a real risk as EUR/USD struggles to gain long-term traction ahead of the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) near 1.0820.
