Forex: EUR/USD keeps gains made on NY opening, at 1.3130

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The EUR/USD peaked at 1.3148 high on the New York opening and is consolidating its gains just above 1.3120. The market may be headed for another push to the upside after ECB President Draghi’s words. He spoke before the European Parliament and said he expects gradual recovery in the Eurozone in the second half of 2013, but it’s an outlook subject to downside risks. Draghi defended that the rebound in Ireland, Spain and Portugal are proof of structural progress. The ESM should be made operational by mid 2014.

Industrial production in the US rose more than expected, by 0.4% in March when analysts were pointing to 0.2% as the consensus prediction. February data was revised higher from 0.7% to 0.8%. Capacity utilization rose from 78.3% (revised from 79.6%) to 78.5% in March, beating consensus of 78.4%.

Earlier, US CPI came in lower than expected, dropping from 2.0% to 1.9% instead of remaining unchanged in March, with a monthly drop of -0.2% instead of 0.0%. US housing starts beat consensus of 0.930M by rising from 0.939M to 1.036M in March, while building permits eased from 0.968M to 0.902M, with consensus at 0.940M.

The Consumer Price Index in the Eurozone came in line with expectations, at 1.2% (MoM) and 1.7% (YoY) in March, while Core data rose from 1.3% to 1.5%, beating 1.4% consensus. The ZEW survey showed a decline in EMU economic sentiment, from 33.4 to 23.9 in April. In Germany, economic sentiment disappointed the market, falling from 48.5 to 36.3, below the expected 42.0. Current situation wasn’t good either, dropping from 13.6 to 9.2, below 12.0 consensus.

“The EUR/USD currency pair is still moving inside a consolidation channel. We think, today the price may stop growing up and start a new descending movement to reach minimum, break an ascending channel, and then continue moving downwards to reach the target at 1.2940”, wrote Roboforex.com analyst Igor Sayadov.