The EURUSD pair spent the first half of Wednesday in a narrow lateral channel, while traders were preparing for the release of the Federal Reserve's minutes.

Data on the US economy hurt the upward momentum of the US dollar.

According to the report, the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for the first time has declined. This indicates a recovery of the labor market after the autumn hurricanes.

According to the US Department of Labor, the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week from 12 to 18 of November fell by 13,000 and amounted to 239,000. Economists had expected the number of new applications last week to be 240,000.

A good report on the labor market was offset by weak data on orders for durable goods in the US, which fell in October, much worse than economists predicted.

Such data indicates that Americans are making less expensive purchases, which will negatively affect US manufacturers.

According to the US Department of Commerce, orders for durable goods in October 2017 decreased by 1.2% compared to the previous month, amounting to 236 billion US dollars. In September, orders rose by 2.2%. Economists predicted an increase in orders by 0.2%.

As for the technical picture of the EUR/USD pair, only a breakout of the 1.1755-60 range would lead to a larger upward wave in the trading instrument with an update of 1.1800 and a monthly peak output in the area of 1.1860. If the Fed's report contains something interesting about the prospect of tightening monetary policy in December of this year, the demand for the US dollar may rise, which will lead to a return towards the region of large levels of support at 1.1680 and 1.1640.

The British pound strengthened its position against the US dollar following the speech of the Ministry of Finance in the UK. Hammond said that the ministry is preparing for any possible outcome of Brexit, and that the preparation allocated 3 billion pounds.

Furthermore, the economic forecast was lowered, according to which the GDP of the UK for 2017 will grow by only 1.5%, and not by 2%, as predicted earlier. Forecast GDP growth of 1.4% in 2018 and 1.3% in 2019. As Hammond noted, lowering growth forecasts is due to weak labor productivity.