The EUR/USD pair advanced sharply on Thursday as U.S. data added further pressure on an already-beaten greenback. Having hit a new five-month peak of 1.0539, the EUR/USD pair closed the day at 1.0526, posting a 1.16% daily gain.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments reinforced the idea that the Fed could slow the pace of rate increases in the next meeting. In contrast, Thursday's data fueled the fire of a monetary policy pivot.
U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures Price annual inflation rate – a gauge closely followed by the Fed – eased to 6% in October from 6.3% in September and below the market consensus of 6.2%. The core PCE inflation also decelerated to 5% in the same period, in line with expectations. Adding to the dollar weakness, insufficient economic activity data was released as the ISM manufacturing PMI fell to 49 in November, the first contraction in over two years.
Investors turn to Friday's nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show that the U.S. private sector added 200,000 jobs in November.
From a technical perspective, the EUR/USD short-term bias remains bullish, as indicators gained additional traction on the daily chart. The RSI remains above its midline and points towards the overbought area, while the MACD prints a higher green bar.
On the upside, the EUR/USD's next resistance levels could be found at the recent high of 1.0539 and the 1.0600 area ahead of the 1.0640 zone. On the other hand, short-term supports are seen at the 200-day SMA, currently at 1.0365, followed by the 1.0300 mark and last week's lows at around 1.0220.
