The President cited the ongoing progress during the talks and hinted that the final announcement of the deal will be held at Mar-a-Lago. The statement came a few days after Chinese officials, led by Liu He met with the American counterparts in Washington. In a tweet, Trump said there had been:
Substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues. I will be delaying the US increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1.
It was a difficult weekend for Venezuela as the political situation grew more complicated. At the border, opposition members clashed with Maduro’s supporters who were opposed to aid in the country. In the clash, two people died and more than three hundred others were injured. In a statement in Colombia, the leader of the opposition, Juan Guaido asked the international community to use military power to force Maduro out of office. More than 50 countries recognize Guaido as the country’s President. This issue matters because Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world.
The New Zealand dollar declined during the Asian session despite better-than-expected retail sales numbers. Data showed that the retail sales rose by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, which was better than the consensus estimate of 0.5%. Core retail sales rose by 2.0% in the quarter, which was higher than the consensus estimate of 0.8%. The quarterly retail sales for the fourth quarter versus sales the same time last year rose by 3.5%.
EUR/USD
The EUR/USD pair was little moved in overnight trading. With no major economic data expected today, the pair will likely remain within this range. This is also evidenced by the technical indicators, with the moving averages being along the price. The momentum indicator too has remained neutral at the 100 level. At this point, the pair will likely remain within this level although a major movement in either direction could happen.
NZD/USD
The NZD/USD pair jumped after the release of the retail sales data. The pair then pared those gains and moved from a high of 0.6883 to the current low of 0.6862. It is still slightly above the Friday’s close of 0.6838. On the hourly chart, the pair’s price is above the 14-day and 21-day moving averages. It is also high than last week’s low of 0.6756. There is a likelihood that the pair will resume the upward trend.
XTI/USD
The price of WTI crude oil eased a bit in overnight trading. The XTI/USD pair is now trading at 57.23, which is between the 38.2% and 50% Fibonacci Retracement levels. The current price is also above the 21-day and 42-day moving averages while the RSI is currently at the 65 level. The pair will likely resume the upward movement as it tries to reach the 50% Fibonacci level at 60.
