The dollar index goes down, while the euro rises in price for almost all currency pairs: the first trading day of the week continued the trend from Friday, when the EUR/USD pair rebounded from the annual low and restored all lost positions. Today, the downward price dynamics have continued.
The main driving force behind the EUR/USD's price growth is the news background on the prospects for trade relations between the US and China. Let me remind you that this week the parties will resume the negotiation process, which may culminate in the conclusion of a "truce" between the two countries. To be more precise, the parties can only come to a framework agreement, where only the main positions of the future document will be indicated. This "letter of intent" will form the basis of a future deal, the details of which will be discussed between the leaders of the People's Republic of China and the United States during a personal meeting.
Over the weekend, Donald Trump said that "great progress" had already been made on the issue of concluding a trade deal, and he is optimistic about the prospects for the upcoming talks. A similar position was voiced by the leader of China Xi Jinping. According to him, the parties managed to achieve significant success in resolving trade disputes. In unison with their leaders, the negotiations and high-ranking officials, in particular, the US Treasury Secretary, the US Trade Representative, and the Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Liu He, appreciated the negotiations.
Such optimism was reflected in market sentiment. The US dollar, which is usually in demand against the backdrop of increasing global problems, began to actively slow down. The dollar index moved away from local highs in the area of 96.9, not finding the strength to test the 97th figure. And although the decline in this indicator is fairly smooth, the causal link is obvious: the closer Beijing and Washington are to the deal, the weaker the position of dollar bulls.
However, the EUR/USD did not increase only because of this factor. The Brexit theme also concerns traders of the pair, given the approaching deadline. It is worth noting that the news flow regarding the prospects of the "divorce process" does not always affect the pair (unlike the pound, where this topic is in indisputable priority). The single currency reacts to Brexit news mainly when the parties closely approach the red lines of the negotiation process. This week Theresa May will hold talks with the EU leadership (in particular, with Juncker) and with the leaders of the EU countries.
The central issue is the regime of the Irish border, namely, the mechanism of the backstop, which is the main irritating factor for the majority of British deputies. During the weekend there were rumors that the representatives of France offered Brussels to make some certain concessions on this issue, so that the negotiations would move from a dead point. Although journalists later denied this information, traders are still optimistic about the future, in the hope of a long-awaited compromise on the backstop issue. The European currency follows the pound, although at the moment there are no significant reasons for the price increase: there are a lot of rumors around the upcoming talks, which sometimes contradict each other.
In such circumstances, it is impossible to make any clear predictions, so this fundamental factor can not be called reliable. By the way, a UK government spokesman said today that following a European voyage by the prime minister, the Cabinet could change the terms of the deal or even delay Brexit. This suggests that London doubts that Theresa May will be able to convince her colleagues that the terms of the deal need to be revised. But traders are still inclined to believe optimistic rumors, so both the pound and the euro show a positive trend.
The Bundesbank report published today also provided indirect support to the EUR/USD pair. Recently, news from Germany does not please investors: economists of the German government revised the forecast of GDP growth downwards, and macroeconomic indicators for December and January were released in the "red zone".
The report of the German central bank also acknowledged the slowdown of the main parameters of the national economy. But at the same time, members of the regulators stressed that they did not observe any signs that a slowdown in GDP growth would turn into a decline in the economy. Such an unexpected conclusion was supported by the European currency, especially against the background of Monday's nearly empty economic calendar. During the European session, the Bundesbank report became the only more or less significant source of news, while the American sites are closed today on the occasion of the celebration of Presidents Day.
Thus, the euro-dollar pair has the potential for further correctional growth: today, the price tested the first resistance level of 1.1340 (the Tenkan-sen line on the daily chart). If the pair bulls overcome this barrier, they will approach a stronger level - 1.1370 (the middle line of the Bollinger Bands on the same timeframe).
