First, a review of last week’s forecast:
- Initially everything was going according to plan for EUR/USD – it rebounded to resistance at 1.0990 but then, instead of reversing and going down, it soared up to the values of last September-October. The reason for that was simply comments by US Federal Reserve official William Dudley who expressed doubts about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in 2016;
- Mr. Dudley’s remarks helped the 50% of the experts who, backed by graphical analysis on D1, reckoned that GBP/USD would continue to move up to 1.4630. The pair reached this level on Wednesday and, as expected, went down, finishing the week around 1.4500;
- After the Bank of Japan introduced a negative interest rate policy, most experts were at a loss. Only one analyst believed that USD/JPY would return to the main support of January – 116.50, which happened, again thanks W. Dudley’s comments;
- Graphical analysis on D1 insisted that USD/CHF should go down to support at 0.9920, and it did, mirroring EUR/USD’s movement.
Forecast for Upcoming Week
Summing up the views of several dozen analysts from world leading banks and broker companies as well as forecasts based on different methods of technical and graphical analysis, the following can be suggested:
- In the shorter term, the indicators and graphical analysis on H1 point to EUR/USD entering a sideways trend in a 1.1250-1.1220 range. As the previous week showed, all major currency pairs’ movements will certainly depend a lot on Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s speech this Wednesday. After the speech, EUR/USD may rise to 1.1350. However, over 70% of the experts and graphical analysis on D1 believe that the market has almost recovered after the bad news from the Federal Reserve, and the pair should return to 1.0400-1.0600 in the next couple of weeks;
- The experts' opinions split almost 50/50 in regards to GBP/USD. According to the indicators and graphical analysis on H4, the pair will be moving in a horizontal 1.4400-1.4545 channel in the near future. In the longer term, 30% of the analysts and graphical analysis on D1 predict a rise to resistance at 1.4900. However, 60% of the experts don’t agree with this, insisting that the pair should fall and get to 1.4220 by the end of February;
- After USD/JPY nosedived last week, it’s clear that all indicators point downward. Considering the ‘war’ of interest rates between the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, the experts seem unable to reach a consensus – 35% are for a fall, another 35% are for a rise, and the rest 30% are for a sideways trend in a 116.40-118.25 range;
- The analysts are undecided about USD/CHF. According to graphical analysis on H4 and D1, the pair will first go up to 0.9980, then fall to support at 0.9800, after which it is expected to rise to resistance at 1.0124 and return to around 1.025-1.032.