The US dollar continued to strengthen its position against the euro and a number of other world currencies against the background of the emergence of good news about trade negotiations between the US and China, as well as due to weak statistics on the eurozone countries and the UK.
As it became known, next week, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will hold their next meeting in Beijing, which will be directly related to trade negotiations. Let me remind you that the truce in the trade war was concluded before March 1, 2019, and before this deadline, it is necessary to clarify the most important points, as well as to come to a single decision on duties.
It is already known that China has agreed to expand the list of topics under discussion in the framework of trade negotiations, including hacker attacks. Whether the meeting is attended by US President Donald Trump is still unknown, but the probability is quite high. The presence of the US leader will be a clear sign that the White House is determined to resolve the trade conflict between the two countries, which will benefit the entire global economy.
As for the fundamental statistics for the United States, which was released yesterday afternoon, despite the slight decline in indicators, which were mainly due to the suspension of the US government, the situation in the economy remains pretty good.
According to the ISM Institute for Supply Management, the PMI Purchasing Managers Index for the non-manufacturing sector of the United States in January of this year fell to 56.7 points against 58.0 points in December. As noted above, the slowdown in activity is directly related to the consequences of the suspension of government work, but in general, the index remains above 50 points, which maintains a rather high optimism. Economists had expected the index to fall to 57.0 points.
US service activity continued to grow in January, albeit at a slower pace. According to the data, the final indicator of business activity in the US services sector in January 2019 was 54.2 points against 54.4 in December. The composite PMI for the US service sector in January was at 54.4 points.
The speech of the representative of the Fed Robert Kaplan did not lead to serious changes in the market, as he generally repeated what he said earlier this week.
The representative of the Fed said that more clarity is needed before the Fed decides on the next step, as it is necessary to eliminate uncertainty about the economy and financial conditions. Kaplan also noted that the Fed is still trying to determine the right course in terms of balance, as the global economy slows down and the US economy is subject to its influence.
As for the technical pattern of the currency pair EUR / USD, the bearish trend persists and the pair is aiming for the area of major lows of 1.1370 and 1.1290. In the case of an upward correction, sellers will be noticeable in the large resistance areas of 1.1430 and 1.1460.