USDJPY ready to resume upmove into 121.00 and 125.40

GBP/USD is recovering ground above 1.3450 in European trading on Friday, helped by a modest uptick in the Pound Sterling after a bigger-than-expected increase in the UK Retail Sales for January. However, the further upside appears limited in the pair amid persistent US Dollar strength and ahead of key UK and US data. 

EUR/USD manages to hold above 1.1750 but struggles to gather recovery momentum on Friday, following the mixed February PMI figures from Germany and the Eurozone. In the second half of the day, Q4 GDP, December inflation and February PMI data from the US will be watched closely by market participants.

Gold gains some positive traction for the third consecutive day on Friday. The upside potential, however, seems limited amid the mixed fundamental backdrop. Moreover, traders might opt to wait for the key US macro releases – the Advance Q4 GDP report and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index – before placing fresh directional bets.

The United States Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish the first preliminary estimate of the fourth-quarter Gross Domestic Product at 13:30 GMT. Analysts forecast the US economy to have expanded at a 3% annualized rate, slowing down from the 4.4% growth posted in the previous quarter.

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.