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All Eyes On Theresa May Speech

Dear Traders,

The U.S. dollar’s recovery turned out to be only short-lived with the British pound and euro regaining some ground against the greenback Thursday. The British pound has proven to be the best performing currency in September so far but storm clouds could gather over the currency. The pound’s recent strength has been based on the hawkish shift in the Bank of England’s monetary policy stance. Consequently, the market has begun to price in a potential BoE rate hike later this year. However, even if a change in monetary policy is an important driver in the market, there is also another fundamental driver that can change everything: Brexit. The U.K.’s divorce from the EU could cloud the outlook for the country’s economy and its currency. In a nutshell, future monetary policy decisions will depend on the Brexit theme which still represents the biggest uncertainty factor for the United Kingdom.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is scheduled to provide an update on the Brexit theme in her speech in Florence today at 19:00 UTC. So far, no breakthrough was reached after three rounds of negotiations between the UK and EU. May’s speech is, however, expected to strike a positive tone and this optimism is reflected in the pound’s upward movement. Theresa May is expected to offer up to 20 billion pounds to retain access to the single market. Should her speech reinforce confidence that Brexit will brighten for the UK, the pound will benefit and could further rise. If May, however, confirms that the troubles remain, the pound could crash.

We currently see GBP/USD trading within an upward trend channel between 1.3690 and 1.3470. While today’s price development could be oriented toward these barriers, the pound’s direction will depend on May’s speech. We expect higher volatility around that speech.

 

Investors may also keep an eye on speeches by Federal Reserve officials and ECB President Draghi today. While Draghi refrained from touching on the ECB’s monetary policy in his speech yesterday he may offer further clues about tapering today.

The EUR/USD traded with a tailwind and we now focus on higher targets at 1.20 and 1.2050. A current support is however seen at 1.1870.

On Sunday September 24, Germans go the polls and this German election could also matter for the rest of Europe and thus the euro. If big chances are taking place, the euro will respond on Monday morning when markets open. Let’s be surprised.

We wish good trades and a wonderful weekend!

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All Eyes On May’s Speech

Dear Traders,

Those who traded yesterday’s consolidation in the GBP/USD had to struggle with volatile but choppy price swings, generating only losses ahead of today’s key event risk. Sterling traders are in the starting blocks for high volatility when U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is scheduled to give a speech on the Brexit approach and we hope for more profitable trading opportunities today. May’s speech will be closely watched as it is designed to set out the government’s position and goals over the upcoming Brexit negotiations. Traders will look for any hints as to whether the U.K. will pursue a ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit. The market is currently pricing in a higher likelihood of a hard Brexit approach with the U.K. being likely to pull out of the European Union’s single market for goods and services. May will use her speech to explicitly say she expects the U.K. to leave the single market (hard Brexit), according to a person familiar with the matter. Given the fact that May is expected to be aiming for full separation from the EU, we expect the pound to remain under pressure. Pullbacks may therefore be an attractive opportunity to sell the pound at higher levels. However, we bear in mind that when market’s expectations are very high, there is a greater potential for disappointment and thus there is also a small chance of a short squeeze in the pound. In short, anything can happen today and we recommend traders to prepare for both bullish and bearish scenario even if the risk is to the downside.

PM May’s speech is scheduled for 11:45 UTC.

Until this morning, the pound traded sideways between 1.2085 and 1.1985 and the focus has therefore shifted to breakouts above or below this range. Bearing in mind that Monday’s gap was not yet closed, the pound might tend to test the 1.2170 area before falling back towards 1.1965. A significant break above 1.22 however, could send the pound toward 1.23. On the downside, the 1.1960-level needs to be broken in order to reinvigorate fresh bearish momentum.

Before May’s important speech we have the U.K. Consumer Price report scheduled for release at 9:30 UTC. Analysts are looking for an uptick in inflation while this report alone could help the pound strengthening in short-term time frames. With inflation being on the rise, the Bank of England could intend to raise interest rates in a next move, unless Brexit developments undermine the economy.

Trading in the EUR/USD was very quiet and none of our yesterday’s entries was triggered. Today, euro traders will watch the German ZEW Survey at 10:00 UTC, which could have a impact on the euro. The 1.0685-resistance area remains in focus and if the single currency climbs above that level we may see an extended upward move toward 1.07/1.0715.

Daily Forex signals:

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View our daily signal alerts https://www.maimar.co/category/daily-signals/

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We wish you good trades and many pips!

Any and all liability of the author is excluded.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved 2017 Maimar-FX.

www.maimar.co