EUR/USD oscillates above 0.9600 as investors await US Durable Goods Orders data

• EUR/USD has turned sideways around 0.9610 as the focus shifts to US Durable Goods Orders data.

• Costly durable goods and accelerating interest rates have trimmed consensus for US economic data.

• ECB Lagarde’s speech will provide cues for likely monetary policy action ahead.

The EUR/USD pair is displaying back-and-forth moves in a narrow range of 0.9600-0.9627 in the early Tokyo session. The asset has turned sideways as investors are awaiting the release of the US Durable Goods Orders data. Earlier, the asset displayed a responsive buying action after dropping to near 0.9550 on Monday. The asset witnessed a steep fall on negative market sentiment, which forced the market participants to dump risk-perceived currencies further.

As per the preliminary estimates, the US Durable Goods Orders are expected to decline by 1.1% against the prior decline of 0.1%. As the price rise index for core products is scaling higher, households have ditched their purchases and are spending in seldom on essentials. Inflation-adjusted payouts and subdued earnings have forced them to alter their expenditure pattern.

Apart from them, accelerating interest rates are compelling households to postpone their spending on durable goods. Payment for durable goods on credit is attracting extremely higher interest obligations. Therefore, the economic data seems grim ahead.

On the Eurozone front, investors are awaiting cues on likely monetary policy action will be provided from the European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde’s speech. The situation of the inflation rate is vulnerable in the Eurozone, therefore ‘hawkish’ guidance is highly expected.

On Monday, ECB Governing Council member and German central bank head Joachim Nagel said that decisive rate hikes are needed amid rising risks of inflation expectations getting de-anchored. Nagel favored a decisive action to bring down the inflation rate to 2%.