EUR/USD bulls struggling near 1.1600 handle

   •  Slide to the lower end of its consolidative trading range. 
   •  EZ final PMI prints fail to lend support. 

The EUR/USD pair now seems to have entered a bearish consolidation phase and was seen oscillating in a narrow trading range around the 1.1600 handle.

Despite a subdued US Dollar price action, the pair started the week on back-foot as investors digested Friday's mixed US macro data, which reinforced the case for a December Fed rate hike move.

The shared currency was further weighed down by a modest downward revision of the final EZ services PMI figures and dragged the pair within striking distance of October's over 3-month lows support. 

Meanwhile, the release of better-than-expected German factory orders data and Sentix Investor Confidence did little to lend any support, albeit helped limit deeper losses, at least for the time being.

With an empty US economic docket, traders look forward to the NY Fed President William Dudley's scheduled speech for some short-term trading impetus.

   •  EUR/USD keeps targeting 1.1272 – Commerzbank

Technical levels to watch

Bears would be eyeing for a decisive break through the 1.1585-75 support, below which the pair is likely to accelerate the slide towards 1.1545 intermediate support en-route the key 1.15 psychological mark.

On the upside, any recovery attempts might continue to confront fresh supply near the 1.1650-60 region, which if cleared might trigger a short-covering bounce beyond the 1.1700 handle towards 1.1725 supply zone.