EUR/USD Feb. 17 – Struggling in Range

EUR/USD is drifting higher within a limited range before key indicators are released in the US. Will it pick a direction? Here’s a quick update on technicals, fundamentals and community trends. EUR/USD Technicals

• Asian session:  Made an attempt to conquer 1.3610 – it didn’t make it.
• Current range – 1.3500 – 1.3570

• Further levels in both directions: Below    1.35, 1.3440, 1.3334, 1.3267, 1.3180, 1.3080, 1.2970.
• Above: 1.3570, 1.3610, 1.37, 1.3760, 1.3830,  1.3950, 1.4030, 1.4160 and 1.4230.
• 1.3440 is important support below – just proved itself in recent days.
• The  failure  to conquer the critical 1.3760 is a bearish sign

Euro/Dollar in same range – click on the graph to enlarge. EUR/USD Fundamentals –

• 9:00 European Current Account. Exp. -5.1 billion.
• 13:30 US Unemployment Claims. Exp. 410K.
• 13:30 US CPI. Exp. +0.3%. Core CPI, exp. +0.1%.
• 15:00 Philly Fed Manufacturing Index. Exp. +20.8 points.
• 15:00 Ben Bernanke talks.
• 15:00 US Mortgage Delinquencies.
• 15:00 European Consumer Confidence. Exp. -11.
• 15:00 US CB Leading Index. Exp. +0.3%.
• 17:20. US FOMC member Charles Evans talks.
• 18:10 US FOMC member Richard Fisher talks

* All times are GMT. For more events later in the week, see the  EUR/USD forecast EUR/USD Sentiment

• Unrest in the Middle East helps the US dollar. The focus is on Bahrain at the moment – an exporter of oil. Note that the oil pipelines in Egypt aren’t in full capacity as well. Iranian war ships are closely followed by Israel.
• The departure of Axel Weber from the ECB continues to weigh on the Euro – now there’s a new candidate – Jens Weidmann, Chancellor Merkel’s aide.
• Irish debt is a big burden: There are growing talks of a default in Ireland. Opposition party in Ireland, Fine Gael,  wants a haircut for senior bondholders. Now they have a precedent of a  default in Denmark to rely on. The current government left this issue for the next government.
• A bailout for Portugal is getting closer as bond yields are rising and becoming unsustainable again.

Currensee Community: 64% are long , 36% are short. These are 1526 open positions in real accounts trading this pair at the moment.