European stocks fall as Eurogroup fail to reach a funding deal

The euro wobbled today as the Eurogroup failed to reach a consensus on a coronavirus package. The ministers, who deliberated for 16 hours, failed to reach a deal on how to help companies and households. According to reports, the main disagreement was that some countries, like the Netherlands, wanted any rescue package to come with conditions. This was rejected by countries like Italy and Spain that are the epicentre of the epidemic. Still, there is hope since the eurozone ministers are set to meet tomorrow to iron out the key differences. 

European stocks declined today, ending a two-day rally that had brought optimism in the financial market. In Germany, the DAX declined by more than 1% while in France, the CAC 40 index declined by more than 1.7%. In the UK, the FTSE 100 declined by more than 1% after Tesco reported better-than-expected results. The biggest retailer in the UK was however hurt by high costs since it was forced to hire more people. In Germany, the biggest news was that Lufthansa had decided to do away with Germanwings, the company it bought in bankruptcy. The company is also reviewing its operations in Austria and Belgium. In the United States, the main indices were up by less than 50 basis points.

The price of crude oil was little changed as the market continued to wait for the OPEC+ meeting that is scheduled for tomorrow. The meeting, which was originally scheduled to happen on Monday, will seek to address the current oversupply in the oil market. According to CNBC, Saudi Arabia and Russia, have been talking behind the scenes and there are hopes of a deal being reached. A deal to cut production could boost prices in the immediate term. However, in the near term, the price could decline if demand remains at the current levels.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair wobbled as the market reacted to the news on Eurogroup problems. The market is also waiting for minutes from the Fed meeting. The pair is trading at 1.0867, which is slightly below yesterday’s high of 1.0927. It is slightly above the day’s low of 1.0830. On the hourly chart, the pair is consolidating between the 14-day and 28-day triple exponential moving average. The RSI has fallen from the overbought level of 78 to the current 50. The pair could see some significant movements ahead of the FOMC minutes.

XBR/USD

The XBR/USD declined slightly today to an intraday low of 32.95. On the hourly chart, the price is below the two lines of the Envelopes indicator while the RSI has been moving downwards. The signal and histogram of the MACD have remained below the neutral line. The pair could breakout in either direction ahead of or just after the meeting.

BTC/USD

The BTC/USD pair rose slightly to an intraday high of 7,480.72. The price is above the important support shown in yellow below. The price is also slightly above the 50% Fibonacci Retracement and slightly above the 14-day and 28-day exponential moving averages. The pair may continue rising and possibly test the important 61.8% Fibonacci level of 7,800.