15 April chart overview for EURUSD and GBPUSD

• During the Asian session, the euro consolidated and erased part of the losses it made yesterday during the European session.
• The pound also recorded a sharp drop yesterday from 1.31500 to 1.30330 during the European session.
• The European Central Bank held key interest rates unchanged yesterday and reaffirmed that it would stop buying assets in Q3.
• A report released by the Ministry of Labor on Thursday shows that the first requests for the American unemployment benefit increased more than expected in the week that ended on April 9.

EURUSD chart analysis

During the Asian session, the euro consolidated and erased part of the losses it made yesterday during the European session. Yesterday’s decline stopped at the 1.07560 level, after which the euro began to recover. Already in the American session, the euro returned to 1.08350, then a new pullback to the 1.08000 level. The euro finds new support here, and now we are again resisting at 1.08350. We can now expect the EURUSD recovery to continue as the pair formed a new higher high on the chart. Our first upper target is the 1.08500 level. Additional resistance at that level is in the MA50 moving average. In the zone around 1.08800, we come across the MA200 moving average, and we need a break above in order to move to a safer zone. After that, our next resistance is the previous high at 1.09200 on the upper trend line. For the bearish option, we need a negative consolidation and pullback below 1.08000 and a new test of the previous low at 1.07560. Our next potential support is at 1.07500, then 1.07000 level.

GBPUSD chart analysis

The pound also recorded a sharp drop yesterday from 1.31500 to 1.30330 during the European session. In the US session, the pair finds support and is slowly recovering. Since then, the pair is in sideways consolidation in the range between 1.30400 – 1.30800 levels. From this consolidation, conditions could be created for the continuation of recovery and return to yesterday’s maximum. The first bullish move would be to raise GBPUSD above 1.31000 levels. Then we get support in all moving averages, which would certainly increase bullish optimism. The next largest resistance zone is between 1.13700-and 1.32000 levels. For the bearish option, we need a negative consolidation and withdrawal of GBPUSD below 1.30500. After that, we can expect the pair to fall to the next lower support of 1.29750-1.30000 levels. A break below would form a new minimum this year.

Market overview            

ECB held key interest rates at same levels

The European Central Bank held key interest rates unchanged yesterday and reaffirmed that it would stop buying assets in Q3.

The Governing Council, headed by ECB President Christine Lagarde, left the main refinancing rate at 0%, the deposit rate at -0.50% and the marginal lending rate at 0.25%.

“The ECB’s monetary policy depends on the data received and the assessment of prospects by the Governing Council,” Lagarde said.

The ECB also expects inflation to remain high in the coming months, largely due to strong increases in energy costs.

The bank said the data from the previous meeting supports the expectation that net asset purchases under the asset purchase program, or APP, should be completed in the third quarter.

ING economist Carsten Brzeski said that a serious recession or a sharp drop in the forecasts of the main inflation is needed so that the ECB does not stop buying net assets during the next six months.

The U.S. Initial Jobless Claims

A report released by the Ministry of Labor on Thursday shows that the first requests for the American unemployment benefit increased more than expected in the week that ended on April 9.

The labour ministry said the number of initial unemployment claims rose to 185,000, an increase of 18,000 from the revised level of 167,000 from the previous week.

Despite the increase, receivables are still at a very low level, which emphasises the historically tense conditions in the labour market, “said Nancy Vanden Houten.

She added: “We expect that the initial claims will remain below 200 thousand in the coming weeks, as employers, who struggle to attract and keep workers, and keep dismissals to a minimum.”