GBP/USD flirting with lows as health-care vote looms

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The GBP/USD pair remained under some selling pressure through early NY trading session and dropped to fresh session low near 1.2470-80 band.

A mild US Dollar recovery, despite of mixed durable goods orders and disappointing Markit manufacturing PMI, coupled with the offered tone surrounding the British Pound collaborated to the pair's down-tick in the past couple of hours.

The pair has now reversed upbeat UK retail sales data led gains recorded in the previous session, but despite of corrective slide still remains on track for second consecutive week of strong gains.

Market seems to have largely ignored dovish comments from St.Louis Fed President Bullard noting that labor market improvements have been slowing and a relatively low policy rate would remain appropriate. Bullard further pointed towards possibilities of only one more Fed rate-hike action in 2017, but did little to assist the pair to recover.

• No need for aggressive rate hikes to keep inflation in check - Fed's Bullard

Investors remained cautious ahead of today's House vote on the Trump-backed GOP plan, which would not only replace the so-called Obamacare but would also provide clarity on Trump's ability to deliver on his promises of tax cuts and infrastructure spending.

• U.S. HoR aims to hold procedural vote by 11:15 am et (15:15 gmt) - RTRS

Technical levels to watch

A follow through retracement below 1.2475-70 level could get extended towards 100-day SMA support near 1.2420-10 region, below which the pair is likely to extend the corrective slide towards 1.2360-55 support before eventually dropping to test 1.2300-1.2290 horizontal level.

On the upside, the 1.25 mark now becomes immediate resistance and momentum above the said handle might continue to confront strong hurdle near 1.2525-30 region. However, a decisive strength above 1.2525-30 resistance should accelerate the up-move beyond 1.2560 intermediate resistance and the 1.2600 handle towards the next important barrier near mid-1.2600s.

1 Week
1 Month
1 Quarter

1 Week

Avg Forecast 1.2408

37% Bullish
36% Bearish
27% Sideways

Bias Bullish

1 Month

Avg Forecast 1.2227

20% Bullish
75% Bearish
5% Sideways

Bias Bearish

1 Quarter

Avg Forecast 1.2116

9% Bullish
64% Bearish
27% Sideways

Bias Bearish

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

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

EUR/USD recovers some early losses driven by rising energy prices amid US-Iran war

The EUR/USD pair claws back some of its early losses during the late Asian trading session on Monday, but is still 0.25% down to near 1.1780. Earlier in the day, the Euro declined sharply against the US Dollar as investors shifted to the safe-haven fleet amid the brutal war between Iran, Israel, and the United States, which broke out over the weekend.

GBP/USD targets 1.3500 barrier near moving averages

GBP/USD rebounds from the daily losses, trading around 1.3450 during the Asian hours on Monday. The technical analysis of the daily chart indicates an ongoing bearish bias, as the pair trades within a descending channel pattern.

Gold looks further north as Iran war boosts haven demand

Gold is taking a breather after the initial run to over one-month highs near $5,400, kicking off the new week with a bang. A global flight to safety theme, following the US-Israel joint attacks on Iran over the weekend, bolstered the demand for the traditional store of value, Gold.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple under pressure as key supports face breakdown risk

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple prices trade on the back foot at the start of this week on Monday, after extending losses in the previous week. BTC is on the brink of a breakdown, ETH is capped below key resistance, and XRP risks a crack of the trendline.

The market is paying for insurance, not apocalypse

As expected, this morning felt less like a Monday market open and more like a fire drill. Futures screens flickered red. S&P contracts down almost 1%. Nasdaq off 1.2%. Brent leaped 13% through $80. Gold rose 1.6% toward $5350 before paring some gains. The dollar is strutting mildly. The Swiss franc is quietly doing what it always does in a storm, catching some safe-haven flows.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.