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The U.S dollar has recovered against the Japanese yen, following the release of the FOMC Meeting Minutes, hitting a weekly price-high of 112.77. The minutes showed that most FOMC members continued to see the need for gradual rate hikes in the U.S economy, boosting the U.S dollar index. Price-action on the USDJPY pair has slipped away from the daily high, and trades the 112.57 level. Moving into the European trading session, traders will watch the pairs 100-day moving average, at 112.48, and the key 92 level on the U.S dollar index.

Sellers currently retain control of the pair while price-action trades above the key 112.48 level. Further buying towards 112.70 and 113.10 remains possible.

Should the USDJPY pair move below the 112.48 level, sellers are likely to move price toward the 112.30 and 112.03 levels.

The euro currency continues to hold well above the 1.2000 level, as buyers try to recover bullish momentum against the U.S dollar. The EURUSD pair again trades around the key 1.2030 level, after briefly testing demand around the 1.2000 mark on Wednesday. Better than expected U.S economic macro-economic data supported the greenback on Wednesday, however dip-buying in the euro still prevails. Traders now look to the release of the eurozone’s Services PMI, and the ADP private sector jobs report from the United States.

The EURUSD pair is only intraday bullish while trading above the 1.2030 level, buyers remain focused on the 1.2093 and 1.2150 levels.

Should the EURUSD pair start to move below the 1.2030 level again, a decline towards 1.1989 and 1.1958 seems likely.

2018 has been a red-hot start for cryptocurrencies, with the combined value of the digital asset market reaching $750 billion on Thursday.

Ripple's XRP token has been a major catalyst for the growth as its market cap surged past $130 billion. The so-called ‘banker's cryptocurrency' briefly traded above $3.00 on Thursday, which is a new all-time high.

The XRP/USD exchange rate was last seen trading at $2.89, according to Bitstamp, for a total market valuation of $132.8 billion. Trade volumes over the last 24 hours exceeded $7.5 billion, as traders continued to pour into the digital asset.

Ripple was the best performing crypto asset of 2017, outpacing thousands of other coins. Its outlook remains strongly bullish, with rumors circulating that Coinbase may soon support the altcoin. Currently, the popular exchange only supports bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and bitcoin cash.

In the final weeks of the year, bitcoin started its fall, reaching a low of $12,500. The fall was as a result of negative headlines and infighting among the bitcoin community.

This year, bitcoin is still struggling compared to its peers as shown below.

Traders are increasingly getting concerned about bitcoin and its price and therefore turning to other cryptocurrencies like Dash, Ripple, Stellar, and Cardano that have seen double digits growth YTD.

This week, Peter Thiel revealed that he has invested in bitcoin. In addition, Bobby Lee who used to run a bitcoin exchange in China stated that he expected the country to lift its ban on exchanges. All this helped bitcoin gain some points.

As shown below, bitcoin has established a strong support at the $12,497 level and started its climb. However, it has struggled to break past its resistance at the $15,557 level. If there is no negative news today, expect the currency to see a short-term correction to about $14,288 before bouncing back above the current resistance.

Economic data will hog the headlines on Thursday, with an advance report on US employment set to drive the markets at the top of the North American trading session.

Action begins at 08:15 GMT with a steady stream of European PMI reports courtesy of IHS Markit. The data will cover the service economies of Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the broader euro area. The Eurozone Composite PMI, which tracks the region's manufacturing and service economies, is forecast to come in at a strong 58 in December.

Payrolls processor ADP Inc. will report on private sector payrolls at 13:15 GMT. The monthly report is expected to show the creation of 190,000 private sector jobs during the holiday-filled month of December, following an identical gain in November. The ADP report is widely considered an accurate precursor of the upcoming nonfarm payrolls report issued by the Labor Department.

Just 15 minutes later, Labor economists will report on initial jobless claims for the week ended 30 December. The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits is forecast to fall to 240,000 last week from 245,000.

IHS Markit will issue headline PMI data at 14:45 GMT, including reports on the US services sector and broader economy. The PMI Composite index is projected to rise to 53.7 in December from 53.0 the month before.

Earlier in the day, Markit said China's services industry gathered pace in December, growing at the fastest pace for a year. The services business activity index jumped 2 points to 53.9 at the end of the year, outpacing forecasts calling for a slight drop.

On the monetary policy front, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard will deliver a speech at 18:30 GMT. On Wednesday, the minutes of the December FOMC policy meeting revealed that most officials agreed that gradual rate hikes would be warranted for 2018.

AUD/USD

The Australian dollar, which is highly sensitive to developments in China, was little changed on Thursday. The AUD/USD exchange rate hovered around 0.7833, as the pair continued to find support near 0.7800. A weaker US currency received some support on Wednesday following a mostly hawkish reading of the FOMC minutes.

EUR/USD

After a strong start to the year, the euro backtracked on Wednesday, with the EUR/USD exchange rate consolidating around 1.2020. The technical outlook remains bullish, with the pair eyeing December settlement highs near 1.2080. On the flipside, the pair is supported at the psychological 1.2000 region.

GBP/USD

After a sharp rally, cabled pulled back sharply on Thursday, with prices consolidating in the 1.3520 region. The GBP/USD currency pair briefly traded above 1.3600 on Tuesday as the dollar fell to multi-month lows. With the December high breached, investors can expect further upside momentum in the near term.

The Aussie dollar stays firm and hit new high at 0.7856 (the highest since Oct 20) on Thursday, boosted by better than expected China Services PMI (Dec 53.9 vs 51.8 f/c).

Thursday's action was so far shaped in long-legged Doji, signaling no clear direction, with initial signal of fatigue of larger and steep uptrend to be expected on daily close in Doji.

Strongly overbought daily studies also warn of correction but without firmer signal so far.

However, the price continues to hold above daily cloud, keeping bullish bias for extension towards strong resistances at 0.7886/0.7897 (Fibo 61.8% of 0.8124/0.7499 descend / 08 Oct lower top).

Return and close below daily cloud top would generate initial signal of correction.

Res: 0.7856, 0.7886, 0.7897, 0.7977
Sup: 0.7816, 0.7805, 0.7777, 0.7755

Recovery from strong support at 112.00 zone extends into the second day and spiked to 112.76, where daily cloud top limited rally for now.

Bullish hourly studies are supportive however, plethora of strong barriers, consisting of daily cloud top (112.77), daily Tenkan-sen sen (112.84) and converged 10/55/20SMA’s (in attempt to create a double bear-cross) weighs and favors likely scenario of limited recovery before bears resume.

Overall bias remains bearish, seeing scope for renewed attack at key 112.00 zone (15 Dec / 02 Jan lows / 100SMA / Fibo 61.8% of 110.83/113.74 rally, with sustained break here to spark fresh bearish acceleration.

Conversely, sustained break above 113.00 barrier (Fibo 61.8% of 113.63/112.05 downleg) would neutralize bearish threats and signal further recovery.

Res: 112.77, 112.84, 112.95, 113.03
Sup: 112.44, 112.17, 112.00, 111.64

The US Dollar has depreciated substantially against the Singapore Dollar during the previous ten weeks. As a result, the pair tested its 2016/2017 low on Tuesday.

As apparent on the chart, the Greenback has failed to demonstrate a distinctive movement either direction. This situation does suggest that the prevailing bearish sentiment could change soon. Thus, even though the 55-hour SMA, the weekly S2 and the monthly S1 are providing strong resistance in the 1.3300/15 area, the pair is likely to edge higher during the following trading sessions.

In case the US Dollar weakens, the combined support of the weekly R3 and the monthly S2 circa 1.3250 is expected to halt any further decline.

The Australian Dollar has been trading in a long-term channel up against the Yen. The lower boundary of this pattern was tested during the second half of November when the rate reversed from the 84.50 area. Subsequently, it has been confined by an ascending wedge.

The Aussie continues to appreciate for the third consecutive session. This strong momentum north allowed to dash through the combined resistance of the 55– and 100-hout SMAs on Wednesday.

It seems that the pair could still edge even higher towards the upper wedge boundary circa 88.90 during the following week. The Aussie should then bounce off a medium-term channel and start a period of decline.

New trading session the currency exchange rate started with a rebound from alleged support zone located between the 1.2005 and 1.1992 levels. Until release of information on employment change in the United States the pair is expected to spend fluctuating in a two-day long junior descending channel whose boundaries are covered by the 55- and 100-hour SMAs. Due to existence of the above support area and the medium scale uptrend the Euro is expected to continue to appreciate against the Dollar tending to reach and test the two year maximum at the 1.2100 mark. In general, there is a need to keep in mind changes in traders’ sentiment, which is becoming too bearish that in nearest perspective might lead to a new turnaround.