- German economy remains weak, official data shows.
- EUR / USD uptrend in focus.
German GDP fell by 0.3% in Q4 2023 compared to the third-quarter, and by 0.4% on the same quarter a year ago, data released by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) today confirmed.
"The German economy ended 2023 in negative territory. In the final quarter, declining investment had a dampening effect on economic activity, while consumption increased slightly," saidRuth Brand, President of the Federal Statistical Office.
In the first three quarters, GDP largely stagnated amidst a still challenging global economic environment. For the whole year of 2023, the most recent calculations have confirmed the year-on-year decline in economic performance of 0.3% (calendar adjusted: -0.1%).
The latest German Ifo readings were also released today with the headline business climate number in line with market expectations at 85.5, and a fraction higher than January’s reading.
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The Euro's recent move higher against the US dollar has stalled today with further progress being kept in check by the 200-day simple moving average. While this technical indicator was broken yesterday, the pair closed below the longer-dated moving average. A confirmed break higher – a close and open above the 200-dsma – would see the 50-dsma and a cluster of recent highs on either side of 1.0900 come into focus. Support is seen at 1.0787 down to 1.0760.
EUR/USD Daily Chart
The recent EUR/ GBP pullback from the 0.8500 area has stalled with the 0.8580 zone proving difficult to breach. A break below the 0.8530 area could see the pair retest prior support around 0.8500again in the coming weeks.
EUR/GBP Daily Chart
IG retail trader data show 72.75% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 2.67 to 1.The number of traders net-long is 8.32% higher than yesterday and 6.59% higher than last week, while the number of traders net-short is 18.03% lower than yesterday and 11.50% lower than last week.