GBP/USD faces barricades around 1.2150 as odds of a less-hawkish BOE policy advance

GBP/USD struggles to surpass the immediate hurdle of 1.2150 after a pullback move.
An expectation of a 50-bps rate hike by the BOE is not sufficient to offset the soaring inflation rate.
The upbeat US ISM Services PMI data has improved investors' risk appetite.

Sagar Dua FXStreet

The GBP/USD pair struggles to cross the immediate hurdle of 1.2150 after a minor pullback from 1.2100. The asset is likely to behave volatile as investors are awaiting the announcement of the interest rate decision by the Bank of England (BOE).

Considering the market expectations, the BOE will announce a rate hike by 50 basis points (bps). Featuring a rate hike by half of a per cent by BOE Governor Andrew Bailey will push the interest rates to 1.75%. It is worth noting that price pressures in the UK have climbed to 9.4%. Also, the inflation rate has not shown any sign of exhaustion yet, which indicates that the new normal 50 bps rate hike is not sufficient to offset the accelerating inflationary pressures.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index (DXY) surrendered its entire gains on Wednesday and settled flat despite the upbeat US Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Services data. The economic data landed at 56.7, higher than the estimates of 53.5 and the prior release of 55.3. Also, the US ISM Services New Orders Index was released at 59.9, lower than the consensus of 60.5 but remained solid than the former release of 55.6.

The upbeat US ISM Services economic data indicated that the demand is resilient and sent the tech stocks on fire. This tech-savvy index NASDAQ rose 2.59% and swiftly improved investors' risk appetite.

Going forward, the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data will be the key event this week. A preliminary estimate for the employment generation is 250k, lower than the prior release of 372k.

GBP/USD

Overview
Today last price	1.2145
Today Daily Change	-0.0028
Today Daily Change %	-0.23
Today daily open	1.2173

Trends
Daily SMA20	1.2012
Daily SMA50	1.2209
Daily SMA100	1.2509
Daily SMA200	1.2973

Levels
Previous Daily High	1.228
Previous Daily Low	1.2159
Previous Weekly High	1.2246
Previous Weekly Low	1.196
Previous Monthly High	1.2246
Previous Monthly Low	1.176
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1.2205
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1.2234
Daily Pivot Point S1	1.2128
Daily Pivot Point S2	1.2084
Daily Pivot Point S3	1.2008
Daily Pivot Point R1	1.2248
Daily Pivot Point R2	1.2324
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.2369

Author

Sagar Dua

FXStreet

Sagar Dua is associated with the financial markets from his college days. Along with pursuing post-graduation in Commerce in 2014, he started his markets training with chart analysis.

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