First, a review of last week’s events:
EUR/USD. The first good news that pushed the euro up, as expected, was the extraordinary Summit of European leaders on Brexit. Its positive results allowed the European currency to rise to the level of 1.1383 on Monday, November 26, after which the power over the market was seized by the dollar once again.
By Wednesday, the pair began to approach the 2018 low and fell to the level of 1.1255, but then the head of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell, speaking at the New York Economic Club, suddenly declared that the interest rates on the dollar were only slightly below the neutral level!
Back in October, the same person had said that the rate was far enough from this level, and a month later, it was almost at the “zero” level, at which the economy neither accelerates nor slows down. Such a speech alerted the market a little, as a result of which the Euro-bulls were able to push the pair up again: this time to the height of 1.1400. But then not so much positive statistics on the Eurozone economy were published, and the pair went down again. As a result, the total of the week can be characterized by the short word “zero”: the pair completed it almost in the same place where it started;
GBP/USD. The intra weekly trends of this pair are similar to those demonstrated by the EUR/USD pair. But the distrust in the pound, caused by the fears that the British Parliament may not approve the agreement on Brexit, played a role. As a result, the finish of the pair was slightly lower than the start level and, if at the beginning of the week the pound was at around 1.2810, it finished the week at the level of 1.2750;
USD/JPY. Regarding the future of this pair, the opinions of experts were almost equally divided. A small margin (55%) was on the side of the bears, but when summing up the week it becomes obvious that the bulls won a victory, albeit a very small one. The pair was able to rise by about 60 points during the week, having frozen at around 113.50;
Cryptocurrencies. The forecast for this market was negative, and it was 100% justified: over 80% of all coins, followed the bitcoin, having gone into a deep minus. The intrigue was only in how low the reference cryptocurrency would be able to fall together with other coins during that week.
Our forecast said that the BTC/USD pair was likely to break through the level of $4,000. And it indeed dropped to $3,660, returning to $4,000 on Friday. Ethereum (ETH/USD) was seen at the horizon $102.6. The litecoin (LTC/USD) fell to $24.2 at some exchanges, and the ripple (XRP/USD) below $0.33.
As for the forecast for the coming week, summarizing the opinions of a number of analysts, as well as forecasts made on the basis of a variety of methods of technical and graphical analysis, we can say the following:
EUR/USD. If you look at the graph, it is clear that in November the pair drew a “pennant” striving to consolidate around 1.1315-1.1350. As for its further movement, most experts (60%) and more than 90% of the indicators on H4 on D1 expect further strengthening of the dollar and new testing of the 2018 low, 1.1215.
In addition to the results of the G20 summit, the next statements of the Federal Reserve Head J. Powell on Wednesday, December 05 and Friday, December 7, as well as the publication of regular data on the US labor market at the very end of the week may affect the formation of trends. According to forecasts, NFP may fall by 15-20% compared to the previous value, which may somewhat weaken the US currency. And here it should be noted that in the monthly forecast, 60% of analysts are already siding with the bulls, waiting for the pair to return to the zone 1.1400-1.1500;
GBP/USD. The pair is near the year lows zone at the moment, 1.2670-1.2695, and graphical analysis on H4, supported by more than 90% of trend indicators and oscillators, predicts their breakdown and a quick fall to the 1.2600-1.2620 zone.
But the experts’ opinion is not at all as clear: it is only 55% who side with the bears. And 45% are confident that the pair will not be able to renew the lows, and it will go north towards the height of 1.2900;
USD/JPY. Although we would like to give a clear forecast, there are no pronounced preferences among experts for the Japanese currency either: exactly half of them have voted for the pair’s growth, and exactly half are for its fall. Everyone is waiting for the results of the G20, and here the forecasts are also quite ambiguous.
The indicators also behave accordingly, although most of them are colored green. As for the graphical analysis, it envisages first the growth of the pair to the level of 114.20-114.40, and then its fall, first to the support of 113.00, and then to 111.75.
In a situation of such uncertainty, it is always useful to refer to a longer-term forecast. And here, 65% of analysts, following the graphical analysis, expect the yen to strengthen and the pair to fall to 112.00;
Cryptocurrencies. The situation with forecasts for cryptocurrencies is complicated by the fact that it is almost impossible to estimate their real value. They are so virtual that estimates can be differ tens, hundreds or even thousands of times. It is not particularly worth it to focus on the miners’ costs either, as they do not do any useful work and do not produce any material values or benefits. They only spend their time, money and electricity.
Experts’ forecasts look as follows at the moment: 60% expect the bitcoin to continue falling to $3,000, 30% hope that it will stay in the $4,000-4,500 range, and 10% of super optimists convince the rest that these are all the machinations of major players who, having bought cheap coins, will soon begin to push the market up.
However, optimism is quickly melting, if you listen to the words of the Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huan. The head of the largest manufacturer of processors for mining has admitted that they had misjudged the prospects of the crypto market, and now his company is betting on the GPU for computing using artificial intelligence and use in unmanned vehicles.
