US pending home sales dropped unexpectedly last month to the lowest level since January 2016, official figures revealed on Wednesday. The National Association of Realtors reported its Pending Home Sales Index fell a seasonally adjusted 2.5% to 107.3 in November, following the preceding month's rise of 0.1% to 110.0 points, while market analysts anticipated a slight acceleration of 0.5% during the reported period. On an annual basis, the Index declined at an annualized pace of 0.4%. In regional terms, sales jumped 0.6% in the Northeast, but dropped 2.5% in the Midwest, 6.7% in the West and 1.2% in the South during November. According to NAR Chief Economist Larry Yun, the sharp rise in mortgages rates and shortages on the housing market were the main driver of the decline last month.
As a result, the EUR/USD par fell to 1.0394 from 1.0398 ahead of the release, while the GBP/USD declined to 1.2210 from 1.2217. Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index, which tracks the Greenback's performance against a group of six other currencies, remained unchanged at 103.67.
A release that matters
The markets are about to be affected by US Fundamental data, as there are loads of small US data releases. However, there is one data release that is about to almost for sure to shake the market enough to probably provide a trading opportunity and profit from short term volatility. The US Unemployment Claims will be published at 13:30 GMT, and this is one of the three data releases, which really have proven themselves to cause volatility.
EUR/USD once more faces 2015 low level
Daily Chart: The common European currency surged on Thursday morning against the US Dollar, as it once more reached the 2015 low level. Previously, during Wednesday's trading session the currency pair retreated after slightly reaching above the 2015 low level, which is located at 1.0462. Afterwards, the rate fell until it found support in the weekly S1 at 1.0371. Thursday's morning surge was just a continuation of that rebound. The rate is set to continue bouncing around below the 2015 low level throughout the day.Bullish sentiment persists
SWFX traders remain bullish with 57% of total open positions being long. Meanwhile, trader set up orders remain unchanged, as 61% of pending commands were to sell the Euro.
Spreads (avg,pip) / Trading volume / Volatility
Average forecast says EUR/USD will trade around 1.06 in March
Traders, who were questioned on their longer-term views on EUR/USD between November 29 and December 29 expect, on average, the currency pair to trade around 1.06 in late mid-March. In addition, 32% (-4%) of participants believe the exchange rate will be generally above 1.08 in ninety days and 9% (-4%) alone see it above 1.14. Alongside, 33% (+3%) of those surveyed reckon the pair will trade below 1.02 in three months.