EUR/USD surrenders modest intraday gains, flat-lined below mid-1.1800s
- EUR/USD gained some positive traction on Thursday, albeit lacked follow-through buying.
- The overnight hawkish comments by Fed’s Clarida continued lending support to the USD.
- The US Initial Jobless Claims matched market expectations and failed to provide impetus.
The EUR/USD pair quickly retreated around 15-20 pips from daily tops touched in the last hour and was last seen hovering near the lower end of its intraday trading range, just below mid-1.1800s.
Following the previous day's sharp rejection slide from the 1.1900 mark, the EUR/USD pair gained some positive traction on Thursday amid the emergence of some selling around the US dollar. However, the overnight hawkish comments by Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida acted as a tailwind for the greenback and capped the upside for the major.
Clarida took a more hawkish turn and signalled a move to taper bond buying later this year or early 2022 depending on how the labor market fared in the next few months. Clarida further added that conditions for an interest rate hike could be met in late 2022 and forced investors to bring forward the likely timing of a policy tightening.
On the economic data front, the US Initial Weekly Jobless Claims fell to 385K during the week ended July 30 from 400K previous. This was mostly in line with consensus estimates pointing to a reading of 384K and did little to provide any meaningful impetus. That said, a generally positive tone around the equity markets capped gains for the safe-haven USD.
Moreover, investors might also refrain from placing aggressive bets ahead of Friday's release of the closely-watched US monthly jobs report. ?The popularly known NFP will play a key role in influencing the near-term USD price dynamics and provide a fresh directional impetus to the EUR/USD pair.
Technical levels to watch