EUR/USD: US Non-Farm Payrolls to decide how the week ends as Euro struggles to hold 1.20

• The Euro has bounced at the tail-end of a deep slide, US NFP risk event in-bound.
• A miss for EU figures ahead of the NFP could easily send the pair back into lows and looking for further downside.

The EUR/USD is holding near the 1.20 major handle heading into Friday's European session after the pair managed to pump the brakes on its recent decline that saw the Euro shed almost four percent from April's high of 1.24 into a four-month low of 1.1937. The EUR has picked itself up off the floor for now, but the pair is still set to close lower for a third straight week.

EUR/USD neutral/bullish near term – Scotiabank

Friday brings a deceptively packed data docket for the Eurozone, though most of the figures will be inconsequential as markets gear up for another US Non-Farm Payrolls Friday. The European session kicks off with Trade Balance figures for France at 06:45 GMT (expected €-4.9 billion, prev. €-5.2 billion), followed by a slew of Markit Service PMIs: Spain at 07:15 GMT, Italy at 07:45, France at 07:50, and German PMIs at 07:55 (expected 54.1, prev. 54.1), ending with Euro-area Service and Composite PMIs at 08:00 GMT. The EU's Service PMI is expected at 55, in-line with the previous reading, while the Composite PMI is forecast at 55.2, also holding steady with the last printing.

Slowing euro-zone economy bearish for EURUSD

Friday brings us the US NFP once more, and the breakdown of the inbound figures shows that "the US economy is forecasted to have added 194K new jobs in April, a nice improvement from the previous 103K. The unemployment rate is predicted to have fallen to 4.0% from the previous 4.1%, but the critical Average Hourly Earnings is seen steady at 2.7% YoY. For the month, wages' growth is seen up 0.2%, below the previous 0.3%.", as reported by FXStreet's Valeria Bednarik. The NFP drops at 12:30 GMT.

Nonfarm Payroll preview: employment data not expected to impress

EUR/USD analysis: risk skewed to the downside, Payrolls decide

EUR/USD levels to watch

As FXStreet's Valeria Bednarik stated in her breakdown of the EUR/USD's technical setup heading into Friday, "technically, the pair is still bearish steadily contained by selling interest, now around 1.2000, as the pair faltered around it a couple of times this last 24 hours. Thursday's low held although a more relevant support is the 1.1915 level, the low set last January. In the 4 hours chart, a strongly bearish 20 SMA keeps leading the way lower, capping the upside, while technical indicators corrected extreme oversold readings, maintaining their upward slopes but within bearish territory. Above the immediate resistance in the 1.2020/30 region, the pair could advance further in correction mode but will need to surpass the 1.2160 region to actually revert the dominant bearish trend."

Support levels: 1.1950 1.1915 1.1880

Resistance levels: 1.2030 1.2055 1.2090