• Global market sentiment is cautious, with equities declining and bond yields rising, as investors anticipate further monetary tightening by central banks.
• July’s Fed minutes reveal a unanimous decision for a rate hike but growing caution among board members about potential over-tightening.
• US data: Initial Jobless Claims slightly better than expected at 239K; Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for August shows improvement.
• Eurozone reports a trade surplus of €23B, surpassing expectations. Upcoming data includes July’s Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).

EUR/USD registers modest losses for the fifth straight day, widening its distance from the 1.0900 figure amid a risk-off impulse spurred by the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting minutes, as well as woes of China’s economic slowdown.

Federal Reserve minutes and China’s economic slowdown weigh on the pair, while positive US data and EU trade balance provide limited support

The market sentiment remains downbeat, with global equities slumping while bond yields rise. Investors continued to assess that central banks could continue to tighten monetary conditions.

July’s Fed minutes showed the board members raised rates unanimously, even though some are leaning neutral, expressing worries about lifting rates too high. Most policymakers still see upside inflation risks, yet officials are taking a cautious approach to setting monetary policy, as they emphasized they would consider the “totality” of data to “help clarify the extent to which the disinflation process was continuing.”

Following Wednesday’s data release, the Atlanta Fed GDPNow model portrays the US Q3 2023 GDP at around 5.8%, up from 4.1% on August 8. Given those developments, the swaps market has shown increased chances for a Federal Reserve 25 bps rate hike at the upcoming November meeting.

On Thursday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed the last week’s Initial Jobless Claims, which fell to 239K, a tick lower than forecasts of 240K. At the same, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for August improved, with numbers hitting 12, exceeding the -10 contraction expected by analysts.

On the Eurozone (EU) front, the Trade Balance depicted a surplus of €23B, exceeding estimates of €18.3B. Before the weekend, the EU would report the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for July, with estimates of 5.3% YoY and 0.3% MoM. Core HICP is expected to remain sticky at 5.5% YoY.

EUR/USD Price Analysis: Technical outlook

EURUSD is set to test the July 6 daily low of 1.0833 in the near term. Still, the EUR/USD 1.0800 figure should be up for grabs, followed by the 200-day Moving Average (DMA) at 1.0787. further downside is expected below the latter, as the 1.0700 psychological level would be up next. Conversely, the EUR/USD first resistance emerges at 1.0900, followed by the 50-DMA at 1.0974.