EUR/USD EXTENDS ITS UPSIDE TO NEAR 1.0850 AHEAD OF GERMAN INFLATION

The EUR/USD pair has stretched its north-side journey to near the critical resistance of 1.0850 in the early Asian session. The absence of exhaustion signals indicates that the major currency pair is gathering strength to add more gains. Improved market sentiment after easing United States banking jitters and rising expectations for a steady monetary policy by the Federal Reserve (Fed) led to a solid rally in the shared currency pair.

S&P500 futures remained choppy on Tuesday amid the absence of potential triggers, portraying a quiet market mood. The US Dollar Index (DXY) corrected further to near 102.40 as the Fed would look to keep rates unchanged. Also, US inflation would remain under pressure due to tight credit conditions by US banks. The demand for US government bonds remained weak as the absence of bad news about US banking was considered good news by the market participants. This led to a further rise in 10-year US Treasury yields to 3.57%.

Upbeat US Consumer Confidence data failed to provide support to the USD Index. The sentiment data improved to 104.2 from the former release of 103.4. The economic data rose after a three-month losing trend despite potential fears of a banking fiasco and higher rates by the Fed, which are denting households’ sentiment as they are struggling to offset the impact of inflated prices of goods and services.

On the Eurozone front, the release of the German Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) data will be of significant importance. As per the projections, the annual German HICP will soften firmly to 7.5% from the former release of 9.3%. An expected decline in German inflation would relieve some pressure from the European Central Bank (ECB).