Real threat of Scotland’s secession

EUR/USD

The single currency stays in the narrow range of just 30 pips between 1.2930 and 1.2960. The pair is not strong enough to either start growth or to resume falling after the continuous decline. Thursday’s drop was the biggest intraday movement for more than three years. Even the favourable data on Germany’s trade balance, published during the EU session today, failed to initiate correction. The trade balance showed surplus of €22.2bln against the expected 17.3. Exports also grew more than expected, by 4.7% against the forecasted 0.6%. Traders preferred to disregard it and focused on import reduction, which can promise decrease more…

USD launches a flank attack

EUR/USD

The single currency hit a fresh local low, falling down to 1.3108, but bears were not strong enough to test 1.31. We should say that despite the expected beginning of the ECB’s QE on Thursday, the single currency is depreciating against the dollar much less than its rivals like the pound, yen and the Aussie (read below). Today the main risk for the pair is posed by the Final Services PMI. If this index has been considerably revised in comparison with the preliminary data, it may affect the course of trading. Unfortunately for the euro, now there are plenty of downward more…

US statistics pose a threat to USD

EUR/USD

The US stock market managed to hit a fresh global high, but the trading range was rather narrow, which spoke about moderate trading volumes. At the time when the market reaches new round levels it gets flooded by retail investors, while corporate investors start lock in their profits. We tend to think that the latter are much stronger, so at the end of the month and before the beginning of the new financial year we expect portfolio rebalancing of various funds and financial companies. And it means that the trends which formerly dominated the markets will be corrected. EURUSD may gain more…

USD’s rally to pause at the end of the month

EUR/USD

The US stock market feels more and more confident at a new level. S&P 500 has exceeded 2000 and the global asset market reached the capitalization of 66trln, as calculated by Bloomberg. Before the global financial crisis appreciation of the stock markets often turned out to be USD’s decline and strengthening of the currencies in the developing countries, which also affected EUR and the pound. Though the pound in theory can follow this very tendency against growing chances of the rate increase earlier than in the USA (see below), the euro’s recent weakness has been quite reasonable. And don’t say that more…

EUR is kept off the levels above 1.32

EUR/USD

The single currency didn’t manage to recover yesterday. EURUSD was below 1.32 almost all day long yesterday, though the major rivals of the single currency felt much better. Besides, S&P 500 crossed the level of 2000, which was a significant moment for the markets. The index didn’t move far from this level and went on the defensive right after hitting the level. As we mentioned yesterday, the initial weakness of the euro was maintained by the divergence between the US and EU monetary policies, once again emphasized by the comments of the Fed’s and ECB’s governors in Jackson Hole. But further more…