In today’s Asian and European sessions, the economic calendar is light again. After several months of decline, the S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI YoY house price index for the US session is expected to turn positive and gain 0.2%.
Sales of new homes were above expectations last month but are expected to fall below 700k this month. A further decline to 105.6 is expected for the US Consumer Confidence Index from 106.1 is expected.
A new 11-month high for the USD/JPY currency pair has been set in the Forex market as the US Dollar remains the strongest major currency. At the same time, the Bank of Japan threatened intervention but hasn’t taken any concrete action. Suzuki said he would take appropriate action against rapid FX movements a few hours ago.
The US Dollar is also at long-term highs against European currencies such as the EUR, GBP, and CHF. Traders interested in trending markets will likely be interested in longing for USD/JPY and shorting EUR/USD since these two major Dollar pairs tend to trend most consistently.
In addition to the massive miss in prior data, US Job Openings also had a massive miss. This indicated a significant slowdown in the labor market. A Consumer Confidence study focuses on how people perceive the labor market, not how they view their finances, as in the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey.
Gold Retesting the 200 SMA
On the daily chart, Gold has found solid support at the 200 SMA even though the price has repeatedly bounced off this moving average, which has repeatedly rejected the price. After the FOMC meeting, Gold failed to breach the 100 SMA (green) due to making lower highs. Despite returning to the 200 SMA, the price remains stuck there.
EUR/USD analysis
The EUR/USD rate has fallen more than 6 cents since the top more than two months ago, and there is no sign that it will stop. In this pair, we remain bearish, and the price is retracing higher. We already had a sell EUR/USD signal from last week, which closed in profit yesterday as the price fell below 1.06.
Bitcoin Buyers Starting to Come Back?
Over the last two weeks, the mood on the crypto market has shifted, with Bitocin’s price rebounding off $25,000 early last week after declining. Following Wednesday’s doji, a bearish reversal signal, yesterday’s candlestick showed a further bearish move below $27,000.
Ethereum Returning Below $1,600
Ethereum’s price climbed higher last month, indicating increased demand and interest for Ethereum at $1,600. On several occasions, buyers have stepped in above this level, but on the daily chart, the 20 SMA has been acting as resistance. This week, buyers took another swing at this moving average and pushed the price above it for some time, but it has since fallen below $1,600.
