GBP/USD eases from tops, remains capped below 1.39 handle

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

• Once again faces rejection ahead of the 1.3900 handle.
• Brexit concerns keep a lid on the post-NFP up-move.
• A goodish pickup in the US bond yields prompts some selling.

The GBP/USD pair trimmed some of its early gains and quickly retreated around 20-25 pips from session tops, touched in the past hour.

The pair gained some positive traction at the start of a new trading week and jumped back closer to the post-NFP swing highs in the last hour. A follow-through US Dollar weakness, led by Friday's sluggish wage growth data, was seen as one of the key factors driving the pair higher.

The momentum, however, lacked any strong conviction and once again stalled ahead of the 1.3900 handle. Prolonged concerns around Brexit talks continue to dent sentiment surrounding the British Pound, with bulls now struggling to build on the early up-move.

Meanwhile, a goodish pickup in the US Treasury bond yields seems to have further collaborated towards keeping a lid on the pair's bullish momentum and prompt some selling at higher levels.

It would now be interesting to see if bulls are able to maintain their dominant position or the pair's rejection slide from the 1.3900 neighborhood aggravates the long-unwinding pressure amid empty UK/USD economic docket.

Technical levels to watch

Any meaningful retracement is likely to find support near the 1.3800 handle and is followed by a strong horizontal support near the 1.3765-60 region. On the upside, the 1.3890-1.3900 area might continue to act as an immediate resistance, above which the pair is likely to aim towards testing a short-term descending trend-line hurdle, currently near the 1.3925-30 region.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

GBP/USD hits multi-week tops around 1.3560

GBP/USD gathers fresh steam and advances to new three-month peaks near the 1.3560 zone on Friday. Cable’s sharp move higher comes after three daily drops in a row and follows the increasing selling pressure hurting the Greenback.

EUR/USD pops to fresh two-month highs, targets 1.1600

EUR/USD advances markedly, revisiting the upper 1.1500s for the first time since mid-June. The pair’s sharp uptick comes on the back of a strong retracement in the US Dollar amid BoJ intervention chatter and despite steady uncertainty in the Middle East.

Gold picks up pace, approaches $4,400

Gold rebounds toward the $4,400 mark per troy ounce on Friday, reversing the previous day’s pullback. The precious metal’s recovery comes as fresh and intense weakness keep weighing on the US Dollar, while traders keep assessing easing expectations of an imminent Fed interest rate hike and the situation from the Middle East.

Pi Network Price Forecast: PI extends consolidation as bulls eye $0.10

Pi Network (PI) price holds steady on Friday, maintaining a consolidating tone for three consecutive days. Mild retail strength in the PI token remains stable, with Open Interest above $9 million, while social buzz eases. PI token’s technical outlook is mixed, as bearish momentum wanes to neutral, with bulls eyeing the $0.1000 psychological level.

Weekly focus: Some relief in US inflation concerns

Actual inflation data for July came out as expected with a 0.1% m/m increase in headline CPI and 0.2% excluding food and energy. Annual headline inflation remains too high at 3.4% and means that wage earners are experiencing stagnating spending power at best, and core inflation is a bit higher than the inflation target of two percent would suggest.

Why is Crude Oil priced for a reopening the ships haven't made?

Fourteen vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Before the war, the count ran near 120 a day. In the sessions since the waterway was publicly declared open, Brent has drifted back to $87 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $81, both a little lower again on Wednesday, with daily momentum on each unwound from the top of its range in late July to the low twenties now.