Investing.com - The euro traded lower against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, as a mass euro zone nation downgrade weighed on the single currency ahead of a key meeting of European officials tomorrow.
EUR/USD pulled back from a high of 1.3216 to trade at 1.3136 during U.S. midsession trade.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3084, the low of February 2 and technical resistance exists at 1.3226, the high of January 30.
Pressuring the single currency, Moody’s downgraded Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta yesterday.
The rating agency also warned of pending downgrades of the United Kingdom and France citing the euro zone’s crisis.
However, Italy sold EUR6 billion of bonds at an auction, meeting its target, pushing the borrowing rate to the lowest level since March, despite the Moody downgrade.
Supporting the euro, German investor confidence hit a 10 month high in February beating estimates. The ZEW Center’s index of investor and analyst expectations climbed to 5.4 from negative 21.6 in January. Analysts’ had forecast a gain to just negative 11.8.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales climbed less than expected in January, in addition to revising December’s figure to flat from a 0.1% gain.
However, core retail sales in the U.S. climbed to 0.7%, beating expectations for a 0.6% increase.
Earlier, Morgan Stanley slashed its fourth quarter 2012 euro forecast to USD1.15 from an earlier projection of USD1.20. The investment bank expects government budget controls to result in a region wide recession.
The euro was higher against the pound with EUR/GBP gaining 0.11% to trade at 0.8373.
Euro zone finance ministers are meeting on Wednesday to discuss Greek’s bailout plan after the island nation agreed on an austerity plan on Sunday.
EUR/USD pulled back from a high of 1.3216 to trade at 1.3136 during U.S. midsession trade.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3084, the low of February 2 and technical resistance exists at 1.3226, the high of January 30.
Pressuring the single currency, Moody’s downgraded Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta yesterday.
The rating agency also warned of pending downgrades of the United Kingdom and France citing the euro zone’s crisis.
However, Italy sold EUR6 billion of bonds at an auction, meeting its target, pushing the borrowing rate to the lowest level since March, despite the Moody downgrade.
Supporting the euro, German investor confidence hit a 10 month high in February beating estimates. The ZEW Center’s index of investor and analyst expectations climbed to 5.4 from negative 21.6 in January. Analysts’ had forecast a gain to just negative 11.8.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales climbed less than expected in January, in addition to revising December’s figure to flat from a 0.1% gain.
However, core retail sales in the U.S. climbed to 0.7%, beating expectations for a 0.6% increase.
Earlier, Morgan Stanley slashed its fourth quarter 2012 euro forecast to USD1.15 from an earlier projection of USD1.20. The investment bank expects government budget controls to result in a region wide recession.
The euro was higher against the pound with EUR/GBP gaining 0.11% to trade at 0.8373.
Euro zone finance ministers are meeting on Wednesday to discuss Greek’s bailout plan after the island nation agreed on an austerity plan on Sunday.