The sterling was little changed after Theresa May outlined her plan B for Brexit. In her speech to parliament, the prime minister said that she was ruling out the probability of postponing the March deadline and having another referendum. Instead, her statement tried to target some members of the labor party by talking about work protections and other social issues. It is unclear whether her plan B will find acceptance in parliament. In a statement, EU’s chief negotiator rebuffed May’s plan to renegotiate the backstop issue. Today, investors will receive the employment numbers from the UK. Investors expect the economy to have added 88K jobs in November. They also expect wages to have grown by an annualized rate of 3.3%.
The euro declined in overnight trading as investors’ concerns grew over European growth. Recent data has continued to confirm that the EU economy is weakening. Today, investors will receive survey data from Germany. The data is expected to show that the ZEW economic sentiment for Germany in January weakened to minus 18.4. For the EU, the ZEW sentiment is expected to have improved slightly to minus 20.1. This data comes two days before the ECB is scheduled to make its first interest rates decision for the year.
Traders will also focus on data from Canada and United States. In Canada, Statistics Canada is expected to release the manufacturing and wholesale sales for November. The wholesale sales are expected to have grown by 0.1%, which will be lower than October’s growth of 1.0%. The manufacturing sales on the other hand are expected to have declined by minus 0.9%. In the United States, the existing home sales for December are expected to have reached 5.25 million.
EUR/USD
The EUR/USD pair declined in overnight trading to a low of 1.1360. On the hourly chart, this was close to the 38.2% Fibonacci Retracement level. It is also below the 21-day and 42-day EMAs while the RSI remains slightly above the oversold level. There is a likelihood that the pair will continue to move lower to test the 1.1300 level, which is slightly above the 23.6% Fibonacci level.
GBP/USD
The GBP/USD pair was little moved after Theresa May’s speech. The pair is now trading along the 1.2880 level, which is closer to the short and medium-term EMAs on the four-hour chart. The RSI remains between the overbought and oversold levels while the Average True Range Indicator has continued to decline. The pair could continue moving lower to test last week’s low of 1.2670.
USD/CHF
The USD/CHF pair continued the upward trend started on Monday last week when the pair hit the 0.9715 level. Since then, the pair has gained almost 3%. Today, it reached a high of 0.9995, which is a few points below the parity level. The pair’s RSI is above the overbought level while the momentum indicator has eased a bit. There is a possibility that the pair will find some resistance near the parity level although the upward momentum could continue.
