GBP/USD refreshes session lows, below mid-1.3900s post-UK jobs data
| • UK unemployment rate ticks higher and prompts some selling.
• Headline wage growth stayed firm at 2.5% y-o-y but fails to lend support.
• BOE inflation hearings/FOMC meeting minutes eyed for fresh impetus.
The GBP/USD pair held on to its daily losses and dropped to fresh session lows, below mid-1.3900s, post-UK monthly jobs data.
The British Pound lost some ground after the latest UK employment details showed unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.4% in three months to December and negated an unexpected drop in the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits, falling by 7.2% during January.
Meanwhile, mostly in-line UK wage growth data, coming in to show headline wage growth (including bonus) stayed firm at 2.5% y-o-y did little to lend any support, with some degree of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming Brexit talks also weighing on the major.
Investors now look forward to the BOE inflation hearings and the highly anticipated FOMC meeting minutes in order to determine the pair's near-term trajectory.
Technical levels to watch
Immediate support is now pegged near the 1.3900 handle, which if broken might turn the pair vulnerable to extend its near-term corrective slide further towards testing the 1.3800 round figure mark in the near-term.
On the flip side, bulls might continue to struggle near the 1.4020-25 region, above which a bout of short-covering could lift the pair back towards the 1.4100 handle.
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