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In accordance with the traders' uncertainty towards the pair's perspectives the EUR/USD experienced quite volatile development. The currency pair, however, started the trading week on a rather positive note around the 1.0989 level and rose up to 1.106 on December 15, after the German ZEW survey improved from 10.4 to 16.1 in December, while the current situation sub-index slightly accelerated to 55.0 from 54.4. However, the next day, pair experienced some looses and entered the negative territory for the rest of the week. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve (Fed) kicked off a hiking cycle and raised rates by 0.25 bps to 0.5%. This was the first rate hike since June 2006. The dot plot was also more hawkish than expected and showed the Fed expects four additional rate hikes in 2016. Overall, in probably the most anticipated week of the year for most major currency pairs, the most scrutinized one - EUR/USD - did not surprise markets as it turned out the FOMC decision was well priced in. Therefore, the pair closed the week at $1.0860 level.This week the overall sentiment on the EUR/USD became clearer, compared to previous week. The 68% of Dukascopy Community members, is waiting for the Euro to drop further. The average prediction for December 25, in turn, is located around the 1.087 level. Concerning important events in the Eurozone this week, the flow of announcement will be limited, namely due to the Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the US will produce data on initial jobless claims.
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