EUR/USD is returning to volatility in the short term, maintaining around 1.0750 and staying firmly within this week’s opening trading range. Flows were thin in European markets on Thursday, with markets in Germany and France closed for the Ascension holiday, while U.S. secondary economic data was due ahead of Friday’s University of Michigan consumer confidence index.
Markets will be focused on speeches from European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers, but ECB officials are widely expected to avoid destabilizing markets amid limited market liquidity during the holidays. During the U.S. session on Thursday, the United States will announce the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending May 3. The market expects the number of initial jobless claims to rise slightly to 210,000 from the previous value of 208,000.
The key data release this week is Friday’s U.S. Consumer Sentiment Index, which is expected to fall to 77.0 in May, down slightly from the previous reading of 77.2. Michigan’s consumer confidence index hit a two-and-a-half-year high in March as the U.S. economy continues to be stronger than the market had expected, pushing the Federal Reserve closer to a rate cut.