The EUR/USD hit a new two-month low of 1.1418, the lowest since mid-August. There are three reasons for this fresh slump.

1) Defiant Italy

Italy remains the center of attention in the European morning. The euro zone’s third-largest economy continues insisting on an expansionary spending program with a deficit of 2.4%, contrary to 2% set as a target by the European Commission. Italian officials insist that there can be no growth without spending and that the budget is for Italians, not for Brussels. The European Commission sticks tot he rules it set. Despite some attempts to talk, a breakthrough seems quite far at the moment.

2) Weak European data

Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI’s) disappointed in the preliminary reads for October. France’s Manufacturing PMI came out at 51.2 points while Services came out at an OK 55.6. However, both sectors disappointed in Europe’s largest economy. Germany saw a manufacturing PMI of 52.3 and services at 53.6, both significant shortcomings and drops from September’s final figures.

The annual growth in private loans also disappointed with 3.1%.

3) Risk-off atmosphere

While Asian stocks did OK, the negative sentiment that was seen in Wall Street on Tuesday carried into Europe today. European equity markets are on the back foot while S&P futures point to fresh losses. The adverse environment boosts the safe-haven yen and also the greenback.

The US releases New Home Sales later in the day, and the FOMC’s Raphael Bostic and Loretta Mester speak. More substantial events are still to come. The European Central Bank makes its decision on Thursday while the US publishes the first estimate of GDP on Friday.

EUR/USD Technical Analysis