GBP/USD Forecast: UK at “the moment of maximum risk”

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

GBP/USD Current price: 1.2420

UK PM Boris Johnson returned to work, offered a speech at Downing Street.
CBI realized sales in the UK seen down 40% in March.
GBP/USD holding on to gains above 1.2400, bullish potential limited.

The GBP/USD pair is up for the day above the 1.2400 level. UK PM Boris Johnson returned to Downing Street and offered a speech, indicating that the UK is at “the moment of maximum risk,” warning of the dangers of re-opening the economies. However, he also acknowledged the economic risks related to the ongoing restrictions. Later in the day, the UK Finance Minister Sunak said that he shares with PM Johnson the sense of urgency to re-open the economy, but agreed it must be done safely. Overall, there’s a sense of disappointment, as beyond encouraging words, there are no details or plans about ending the lockdown, now set to continue until May 7.

The UK will release this Tuesday the CBI Distributive Trades Survey on realized sales, seen at -40% in April from -3.0% in March.

GBP/USD short-term technical outlook

The GBP/USD pair is neutral, as, despite the intraday advance, it lacked follow-through. The 4-hour chart shows that the pair is struggling around a directionless 100 SMA, while above the 20 SMA that converges with a Fibonacci level at around 1.2355. Technical indicators, in the meantime, remain flat just above their midlines. The downside seems limited as the pair would need to return to sub-1.2300 levels to become more attractive to bears.

Support levels: 1.2390 1.2355 1.2305

Resistance levels: 1.2430 1.2465 1.2500

View Live Chart for the GBP/USD

Author

Valeria Bednarik

FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

EUR/USD remains offered below 1.1800, looks at US data

EUR/USD is still trading on the defensive in the latter part of Thursday’s session, while the US Dollar maintains its bid bias as investors now gear up for Friday’s key release of the PCE data, advanced Q4 GDP prints and flash PMIs.

GBP/USD bounces off monthly lows near 1.3430

GBP/USD is sliding in tandem with its risk-sensitive peers, drifting back towards the 1.3430 area, its lowest levels in the month. The move reflects a firmer Greenback, supported by another round of solid US data and a somewhat divided FOMC Minutes.

Gold surrenders some gains, back below $5,000

Gold is giving away part of its earlier gains on Thursday, receding to the sub-$5,000 region per troy ounce. The precious metal is finding support from renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and declining US Treasury yields across the curve in a context of further advance in the Greenback.

XRP edges lower as SG-FORGE integrates EUR stablecoin on XRP Ledger

Ripple’s (XRP) outlook remains weak, as headwinds spark declines toward the $1.40 psychological support at the time of writing on Thursday.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.