Euro Down as Italian PMI and German Unemployment Disappoint, Hits New Multi-Year Low vs Pound

Euro fell across the board on Wednesday as data from Italy and Germany surprised on the downside and strong numbers from the UK drove it to a new multi-year low.

At 12:30 GMT, EUR/USD traded at 1.3644, down 0.25% from its previous close. EUR/GBP was down 0.23% at 0.7958. The cross had fallen to a low of 0.7951, its lowest since October 2012.

Italy's June manufacturing PMI by Markit slipped to 52.6 from 53.2 in May, data showed Wednesday while analysts had been expecting an unchanged print.

German PMI slipped to 52.0 from 52.4 against the market consensus of 52.4. Also, the number of unemployed Germans increased by 9,000 when analysts were expecting a fall of 10,000.

At the same time UK's June Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 57.5 from 57.0 beating market forecast of 56.8.

Technical Outlook

The 14-period exponential moving average breaking below the 50-period moving average has triggered a bearish signal for EUR/USD and the pair is now targeting 1.3645, the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the 26 June to 30 June uptrend.

The pair has its main support barrier at 1.3635-32 region, a break of which will weaken the uptrend since 26 June and confirm the trend reversal.

Further down, 1.3620-10 is an area to watch out for ahead of 1.3583 and then 1.3564, the 26 June low.

On the higher side, 1.3701 is the first level to watch and then comes the 1.3735-45 zone. Next big level is 1.3845 and after that the 8 May peak of 1.3994.