The single European currency ends the year at its highs. Like almost the entire current year, yesterday's gradual growth was still associated with COVID-19, particularly the complete failure of the US healthcare system with its vaccination plan against coronavirus. It was planned to make 20 million vaccines before this year ends, however, only 2.7 million people were vaccinated. This means that only 13.5% of the plan was fulfilled and this, despite the fact that the epidemiological situation in the US is almost catastrophic. Based on the total number of COVID-19 cases, the United States is ahead of India and Brazil, which are in second and third places. In terms of the number of deaths, it is comparable to them. Such a situation should have prioritized vaccination against coronavirus for both the state and society. However, the results of the vaccination program clearly showed that the entire healthcare system simply cannot handle it. But there is practically no talk about the need for any reform in the US. Therefore, it is not surprising that the single European currency ends the year positively even if the macroeconomic calendar is completely empty. At the same time, the conclusion of a trade agreement between London and Brussels also adds slight optimism.
No activity is expected on the market today, as it is shortened. Although the United States will publish data on claims for unemployment benefits, this data can be multi-directional. On the one hand, the number of repeated applications for unemployment benefits is expected to decline from 5,337 thousand to 5,290 thousand. On the other hand, the number of initial applications may grow from 803 thousand to 815 thousand. And judging by the dynamics of the reduction in the total number of applications, the most important thing here is that the labor market has lost the recovery pace. So, this is no longer a serious concern not only for investors, but also for the Fed. However, any reaction to these data should not be expected due to the New Year.
Number of re-claims for unemployment benefits (United States):
The EUR/USD pair has updated the local high of the medium-term upward trend once again. As a result, market participants reached the lower limit of the 2018 flat range of 1.2300/1.2500.
At the same time, the market dynamics does not go beyond the limits of the average indicator, which may indicate an inertial movement in the market.
If we proceed from the quote's current location, an insignificant pullback from the coordinate 1.2300 can be observed, where market participants continue to focus on the conditional high of the medium-term trend.
Considering the overall trading chart, it is worth highlighting in the daily time frame that the flat range of 1.2300/1.2500 is a kind of high of the last upward trend.
It can be assumed that the range of 1.2300/1.2500 will exert psychological pressure on market participants, which may eventually lead to the formation of a large-scale correctional movement in the market. It should be noted that the Euro has recently acquired the highest overbought status.
From the point of view of a comprehensive indicator analysis, it can be seen that the technical indicators of the pair unanimously signal a buy, which is confirmed by the fact that the price is at the high of the trend.
