EUR/USD fails to find direction for second straight day, sits comfortably above 1.1350

• Waning trade optimism weighs on US Treasury bond yields on Thursday.
• US Dollar Index looks to close the day virtually unchanged near 96.20.
• Today's data from the U.S. showed that GDP in Q1 expanded by 3.1%. 

The EUR/USD pair largely ignored today's macroeconomic data releases and extended its consolidation phase above the 1.3150 mark as investors seem to be opting out to stay on the sidelines ahead of this weekend's critical trade talks at the G20 summit in Japan. As of writing, the pair was flat on the day at 1.1370.

Earlier today, the data published by the European Commission revealed that both the consumer and the business sentiment continued to worsen in the eurozone. The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to -7.2 in June from -6.5 in May and the Business Climate Index fell to 0.17 from 0.3. 

Commenting on the data, "While eurozone PMIs have displayed improving growth in services and further weakening in manufacturing, this isn't the case for the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI),” said ING analysts. “Declines across the board indicate that June was another month of weak growth, adding to expectations of a weak quarter in terms of GDP growth.”

In the second half of the day, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis in its third estimate reported that the real GDP was expected to expand by 3.1% on a yearly basis in the first quarter. The fact that this reading came in line with the previous estimate and the analysts' estimate allowed the US Dollar Index to stay in its range. 

Meanwhile, the latest headlines surrounding the U.S.-China trade conflict ahead of this weekend's talks weighed on the market sentiment and caused the 10-year US Treasury bond yield to fall nearly 2%, making it difficult for the greenback to gather strength.

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal reported that China was planning to insist the U.S. remove the ban on Huawei as part of a trade deal. Commenting on this report, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters that it was unlikely for the U.S. to remove restrictions on Huawei. Furthermore, Chinese news outlet Global Times said some analysts were not optimistic about a positive outcome after President Trump used bullying tactics such as threatening to impose new tariffs on China earlier this week. 

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