Although the preliminary estimates of the January Purchaser Manager Indexes (PMIs) in the eurozone showed growth, they were not particularly impressive. On one hand, the Composite PMI rose from 47.6 points to 47.9 points, slightly below the forecast of 48.0 points. However, the Manufacturing PMI, instead of rising from 44.4 points to 45.0 points, jumped to 46.6 points. The issue was with the Services PMI, which remained at 48.4 points, slightly below the forecasted rise to 49.4 points. As a result, the euro continued to trade in a relatively flat range. The real upward movement began a bit later, driven by strong PMI data in the United Kingdom.
However, after the opening of the US trading session, the market quickly returned to the levels it was at before the release of eurozone data. Despite expectations that the dollar would grow weaker, US business activity statistics came out much better than anticipated. The Manufacturing PMI was particularly noteworthy, which, instead of dropping from 47.9 points to 47.2 points, surged to 50.3 points. The Services PMI also rose from 51.4 points to 52.9 points, despite expectations of a drop to 51.0 points. Consequently, the Composite PMI managed to rise from 50.9 points to 52.3 points, contrary to the expected decline to 50.3 points.
Today, even though the US will release data on unemployment claims, this will have no impact, regardless of its result. Investors will focus on the outcome of today's European Central Bank meeting. Last week, ECB President Christine Lagarde signaled that the central bank is likely to cut interest rates in the summer. Now investors are waiting for something like an official confirmation. If the statements about the timing of the start of monetary easing are confirmed in both the press release and during the subsequent press conference, the euro will likely lose ground. Especially since the timing of the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts is in question due to the sudden rise in US inflation. Nevertheless, it is better not to rush and wait for the actual outcomes of the ECB's board meeting.
The EUR/USD pair temporarily rose above the 1.0900 level but failed to hold that level. As a result, the trading day closed below this level, thus reflecting bearish sentiment for the euro.
On the four-hour chart, the RSI indicator is moving within the 50 middle line, which indicates that the price is stagnant.
On the same time frame, the Alligator's MAs are intersecting each other, suggesting a period of consolidation.
OutlookThe current corrective cycle may persist if the price does not stay above the 1.0900 level on the daily timeframe. However, in order to increase the volume of short positions, the price must return below 1.0850, and then it could move towards the 1.0800 level.
The complex indicator analysis unveiled that in the intraday and short-term periods, technical indicators are pointing to a mixed outlook as the market remains stagnant within the 1.0850/1.0900 range.