USD to remain flat, quiet week ahead in terms of economic releases

The USD is expected to remain flat, with a bias to regain upside momentum as the ECB meets and Chinese data are published. After weak prints in NFP and retail sales, market pricing for a December lift-off has decreased substantially lately, assigning only a 50% chance of a move at the March meeting. It is believed that March would be the chosen date to start the normalization process in the monetary conditions, and as such, further upside risks are likely to the USD in effective terms. This week is light in terms of economic releases, as only housing data are going to be released. 

"We expect 1150k of housing starts, slightly above the consensus of 1142k, while on Thursday, we expect existing home sales to print a 5.42 mn saar, versus the consensus of 5.36mn", notes Barclays.