In the meanwhile, the market absorbs French trade data: the trade deficit with the EU widened from €-4.3B to €-5.3B in December, instead of narrowing slightly to €-4.2B as expected. Both imports (€43.137B) and exports (€37.788B) increased. The annualized Spanish industrial output came in higher, from -7% (revised from -7.2%) to -6.9% in December.
"We are wary of a correction lower near term, but acknowledge with little sign of reversal currently, the market is capable of reaching the next resistance at 127.93 the April 2010 high and even 129, the 78.6% retracement of the move down from 2009", wrote Commerzbank analyst Karen Jones.
The GBP/USD has final shown some signs of life Thursday, having jumped nearly 25 pips in recent minutes to trade at its session highs of 1.5687/88 during European trading. Ahead of some the data release in the United Kingdom, the pair is recording an advance of +0.12% on the day.