The shared currency is looking for direction in the second half of the week, now taking EUR/USD to the 1.1760 area ahead of the ECB event.

EUR/USD attention to ECB, US data, Fedspeak

After two days posting gains, the pair is now trading in a cautious tone around the 1.1760 region ahead of the ECB minutes due later in the European afternoon.

In fact, EUR managed well to leave behind potential political risks in Spain following the independence referendum in Catalonia on Sunday, while the correction lower in the greenback fuelled further the pair’s squeeze higher.

Looking ahead, the ECB will publish its minutes from the last meeting. Investors will closely follow the release looking for any clues regarding the probable changes to the ongoing QE programme. Further out, board members P.Praet and B.Coeure are also due to speak.

Across the pond, the usual weekly report on the labour market is due seconded by factory orders for the month of August. In addition, FOMC’s J.Powell, San Francisco Fed J.Williams (2018 voter, centrist), Philly Fed P.Harket (voter, hawkish) and KC Fed E.George (2019 voter, hawkish) are all due to speak.

EUR/USD levels to watch

At the moment, the pair is down 0.05% at 1.1755 and a break below 1.1696 (low Oct.3) would target 1.1662 (low Aug.17) en route to 1.1591 (100-day sma). On the other hand, the next up barrier emerges at 1.1793 (10-day sma) followed by 1.1833 (55-day sma) and finally 1.18876 (21-day sma).