- The Euro sees recovery gains starting to evaporate against the US Dollar after the nearly 1% correction booked on Monday.
- Traders are doubting where to take the Euro after dovish calls from ECB’s Cipollone.
- The US Nonfarm Payrolls release is due Friday with JOLTS being printed this Tuesday.
The Euro is trying to keep its head above 1.05 in a small recovery attempt, after having lost 0.78% on Monday due to concerns over the stability of the French government. French Prime Minister Michel Barnier used a special decree to pass his social budget reform by circumventing the French parliament, a move that set off bad blood with the opposition parties, which were very quick to support a vote of no confidence that could be held as early as Wednesday.
Meanwhile in the US, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that he is keen for a December interest-rate cut. This has pushed up the odds for that rate cut to take place, narrowing the rate differential between European and US bond yields. Some further easing from the US Dollar should materialize on the back of this, giving further impulse to the EUR/USD pair ahead of the US JOLTS Job Openings report to be published in Tuesday’s American session.
Daily digest market movers: EUR could turn around quite quickly
- The main economic event this Tuesday will be the US JOLTS Jobs Openings report for October. Expectations are for 7.48 million job openings against the previous 7.443 million, ahead of the retail-intensive Christmas Holiday period.
- Spanish Unemployment in November fell by around 16,000 people, coming from the 26,800 uptick in joblessness seen the previous month.
- Bloomberg confirms that a vote of no confidence will take place Wednesday in France.
- European equities are positive though off their intraday high, where the German Dax hitted 20,000 points for the first time ever.
- European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said on Tuesday that Europe is growing much less than it could, with upcoming US tariffs possibly lowering the growth outlook even more. This opens the door for larger rate cuts from the ECB, Bloomberg reports.
Technical Analysis: More ECB rate cuts would mean a boom in Eurozone activity
EUR/USD has a long road to recover after its stellar correction in November. With policies from US President-elect Donald Trump being priced in, a lot could be priced out once it turns out that bold statements were a bargaining chip to get some deal or consensus done.
Major banks are already calling for parity, but it would not come as a surprise that parity does not materialize. There is the possibility that the EUR/USD pair reverts back to 1.0600 and 1.0800 in the coming weeks as traders unwind positions ahead of the Christmas season and the end of the year.
On the upside, three firm lines of resistance can be seen. The first is the previous 2024 low at 1.0601 registered on April 16. If that level breaks, the triple bottom from June at 1.0667 will be the next cap upwards. Further up, the 1.0800 round level, which roughly coincides with the green ascending trend line from the low of October 3, 2023, could deliver a harsh rejection.
Looking for support, the 2023 low at 1.0448 is the next technical candidate. The current two-year low at 1.0332 is the second level to look out for. Further down, 1.0294 and 1.0203 are the next levels to consider.
EUR/USD: Daily Chart
Central banks FAQs
Central Banks have a key mandate which is making sure that there is price stability in a country or region. Economies are constantly facing inflation or deflation when prices for certain goods and services are fluctuating. Constant rising prices for the same goods means inflation, constant lowered prices for the same goods means deflation. It is the task of the central bank to keep the demand in line by tweaking its policy rate. For the biggest central banks like the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB) or the Bank of England (BoE), the mandate is to keep inflation close to 2%.
A central bank has one important tool at its disposal to get inflation higher or lower, and that is by tweaking its benchmark policy rate, commonly known as interest rate. On pre-communicated moments, the central bank will issue a statement with its policy rate and provide additional reasoning on why it is either remaining or changing (cutting or hiking) it. Local banks will adjust their savings and lending rates accordingly, which in turn will make it either harder or easier for people to earn on their savings or for companies to take out loans and make investments in their businesses. When the central bank hikes interest rates substantially, this is called monetary tightening. When it is cutting its benchmark rate, it is called monetary easing.
A central bank is often politically independent. Members of the central bank policy board are passing through a series of panels and hearings before being appointed to a policy board seat. Each member in that board often has a certain conviction on how the central bank should control inflation and the subsequent monetary policy. Members that want a very loose monetary policy, with low rates and cheap lending, to boost the economy substantially while being content to see inflation slightly above 2%, are called ‘doves’. Members that rather want to see higher rates to reward savings and want to keep a lit on inflation at all time are called ‘hawks’ and will not rest until inflation is at or just below 2%.
Normally, there is a chairman or president who leads each meeting, needs to create a consensus between the hawks or doves and has his or her final say when it would come down to a vote split to avoid a 50-50 tie on whether the current policy should be adjusted. The chairman will deliver speeches which often can be followed live, where the current monetary stance and outlook is being communicated. A central bank will try to push forward its monetary policy without triggering violent swings in rates, equities, or its currency. All members of the central bank will channel their stance toward the markets in advance of a policy meeting event. A few days before a policy meeting takes place until the new policy has been communicated, members are forbidden to talk publicly. This is called the blackout period.
