Investing.com - The euro held steady against the greenback on Wednesday as investors remained in standby mode on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting.
In U.S. trading, EUR/USD was trading at 1.3761, up 0.01%, up from a session low of 1.3739 and off a high of 1.3774.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3562, the low from Feb. 12, and resistance at 1.3775, the high from Jan. 2.
Investors remained eager to see a weather vane pointing to the direction of monetary policy in the Fed's January minutes due out later in the trading session and brushed off data released earlier.
The Commerce Department reported earlier that U.S. housing starts fell 16% in January to 880,000 units, outpacing expectations for a 5.7% drop, though a series of winter storms may have played a factor.
The number of building permits issued last month declined by 5.4% to a seasonally adjusted 937,000 units, outpacing expectations for a 1.8% decline.
A separate report revealed that the U.S. producer price index rose 0.2% last month, beating forecasts for a 0.1% gain, while core producer prices were also up 0.2%.
At the January policy meeting, monetary authorities cut the Fed's monthly bond-buying program to $65 billion from $75 billion, and the minutes could reveal whether further cuts are on the way or if a wait-and-see mindset is on the way.
Investors were looking ahead to the minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting later Wednesday, when the bank voted to cut its stimulus program by another $10 billion to $65 billion per month.
The euro was down against the pound, with EUR/GBP sliding 0.17% to 0.8233, and down against the yen, with EUR/JPY trading down 0.11% at 140.67.
On Thursday, the euro zone is to publish data on manufacturing and service-sector activity, while Germany and France are to publish individual reports. Germany is also to publish data on producer price inflation.
The U.S. is to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims and data on consumer price inflation.
The U.S. is also to release data on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.