- SWFX market sentiment is 55% bullish
- Trader pending orders are 59% to sell
- Pair opened Monday's session at 1.0529
- Upcoming Events: Nothing notable
The US economy created less jobs than expected in the last month of 2016, disappointing markets. The US unemployment rate rose in line with analysts' expectations from 4.6% to 4.7%, while the participation rate climbed from 62.6% to 62.7%. The report also showed US nonfarm payrolls advanced 156,000, while markets anticipated a gain of 177,000, following the previous month's increase of 178,000. Official data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed manufacturing employment advanced 17,000 in December, despite small decreases in two previous months. In the meantime, there was also a slight fall in construction jobs and decline of over 15,000 in temporary help-services jobs. Nevertheless, government employment increased 12,000. In the meantime, the BLS said the Average Earnings Index jumped 0.4%, compared to a 0.1% decrease in November, which boosted the annual rate from 2.5% to 2.9%, the strongest gain since June 2009. Despite mixed economic indicators, the data is likely to maintain confidence in the job market and analysts' expectations for the Federal Reserve's rate hikes in 2017.
After the report, the US Dollar strengthened immediately. The EUR/USD pair dropped to 1.0550, while the USD/JPY held steady at 116.50.
Upcoming fundamental releases: Nothing notable
If one looks at the economic calendar for today, a lot of data releases can be seen. Five data releases are occurring in the EU, and two data releases will happen in the US. However, none of them will influence the EUR/USD currency exchange rate, as all of them are low impact. Which means that even a slight fluctuation on the five minute charts is not likely to happen.
EUR/USD flat below 1.0550
Daily Chart: The common European currency traded almost flat on Monday morning against the US Dollar, as the currency exchange rate fluctuated below the 1.0550 mark. Previously, on Friday the currency pair met with resistance and moves southward to end the session at 1.0529, compared to the opening price of 1.0605. The rate has stopped its lower movements due to a cluster of support made up of the December and April 2015 low levels near 1.0520. It is most likely that the Euro will continue to depreciate against the US Dollar in the near future.Daily chart
Hourly chart: The hourly chart for the EUR/USD currency pair reveals that the pair hit the upper trend line of the medium term ascending channel pattern. As a result the rate bounced off of it and fell down to the combined support cluster of the December and April 2015 low levels. There it has found support strong enough to rebound. However, the rate is still set to fall, as it is likely to form a short term descending pattern to the medium term channel's lower trend line.
Hourly chart
Bullish sentiment persists
SWFX trader remain bullish on the pair, as 55% of open positions are long. Meanwhile, trader set up orders have not changed, as 59% of trader set up commands are to sell the Euro.
OANDA traders have become neutral bullish, as 51.58% of open EUR/USD positions were long on Monday. Meanwhile, SAXO bank traders increased their bearish outlook, as 37.32% of open positions were long, compared to 39.43% before.