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5 Aug 2013
GBP/USD mustering a modest bounce after five straight down sessions
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The British Pound / US Dollar cross (GBPUSD) is just above the flat line early Friday after a five day losing streak. US jobs number on Friday likely to be big catalyst despite British housing price data due out shortly.
GBP/USD turned back up sharply after US jobs report
The GBP/USD cross was falling quite precipitously through most of last week as FOMC “tapering” talk began to percolate again after a series of better-than-expected US data points. Even the FOMC themselves coming out with a dovish tone Wednesday couldn’t hold rates and the DXY down heading into Friday (thereby weighing down the GBP/USD). However, Friday’s jobs report in the US turned everything 180 degrees and the DXY tumbled – forcing the GBPUSD higher (at least temporarily).
This week, the focus turns to the eastern side of the Atlantic with Britain set to release multiple data points including:
• Monday – Services PMI
• Tuesday – GDP estimate
• Wednesday – Bank of England Inflation Report, and
• Friday – Trade balance
The recent trend in data has been for increasing economic strength from Britain – perhaps a result of working off of a very low base. Traders will be watching closely to see if that trend continues and if so whether the strength in England will match or exceed the recovery in the US.
GBP/USD technical outlook
The technical crowd is calling for a continued intermediate-term move lower in GBP/USD– at least down to 1.4800 (from 1.52687 currently). Shorter-term resistance for GBP/USD comes in at the 1.5176 (61.80% retracement of the recent decline) and is followed by the 1.5409 “correction resistance”. Support for GBP/USD comes in at 1.5205 – mid-point of Friday’s rally and is followed by Frida’s low of 1.5102.
GBP/USD turned back up sharply after US jobs report
The GBP/USD cross was falling quite precipitously through most of last week as FOMC “tapering” talk began to percolate again after a series of better-than-expected US data points. Even the FOMC themselves coming out with a dovish tone Wednesday couldn’t hold rates and the DXY down heading into Friday (thereby weighing down the GBP/USD). However, Friday’s jobs report in the US turned everything 180 degrees and the DXY tumbled – forcing the GBPUSD higher (at least temporarily).
This week, the focus turns to the eastern side of the Atlantic with Britain set to release multiple data points including:
• Monday – Services PMI
• Tuesday – GDP estimate
• Wednesday – Bank of England Inflation Report, and
• Friday – Trade balance
The recent trend in data has been for increasing economic strength from Britain – perhaps a result of working off of a very low base. Traders will be watching closely to see if that trend continues and if so whether the strength in England will match or exceed the recovery in the US.
GBP/USD technical outlook
The technical crowd is calling for a continued intermediate-term move lower in GBP/USD– at least down to 1.4800 (from 1.52687 currently). Shorter-term resistance for GBP/USD comes in at the 1.5176 (61.80% retracement of the recent decline) and is followed by the 1.5409 “correction resistance”. Support for GBP/USD comes in at 1.5205 – mid-point of Friday’s rally and is followed by Frida’s low of 1.5102.