- GBP/USD touched its highest level since late February at 1.4158.
- US Dollar Index stays in the negative territory on Monday.
- Focus shifts to first-quarter GDP report from the UK on Wednesday.
The GBP/USD pair registered strong gains in the second half of the previous week and preserved its bullish momentum on Monday. After touching its highest level since late February at 1.4158 in the early American session on Monday, the pair seems to have gone into a consolidation phase and was last seen rising 1.2% on a daily basis at 1.3143.
GBP continues to ride BoE wave
Last week, the Bank of England (BoE) hinted at a hawkish policy shift by noting it is planning to start tapering its asset purchases. The British pound capitalized on this development and outperformed its rivals.
Assessing the BoE's policy statement, "while Governor Bailey cited downside risks to growth, the BoE’s assumptions on excess supply could also prove excessive and therefore inflation over the short-term could prove higher," said TD Securities analysts. "That would be one example of the markets questioning the BoE’s assumptions and shifting assumptions on BoE action coming sooner. We still see that as plausible in the period when UK GDP growth is set to rebound very strongly.”
On the other hand, the disappointing US jobs reports, which showed that Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 266K in April to miss the market expectation of 978K by a wide margin, the greenback came under heavy selling pressure. With the US Dollar Index pushing lower toward 90.00 at the start of the week, GBP/USD managed to climb higher.
There won't be any macroeconomic data releases featured in the US economic docket in the remainder of the day. On Wednesday, the first-quarter GDP report, Industrial Production and Goods Trade Balance data from the UK will be looked upon for fresh impetus. Later in the day, investors will be paying close attention to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the US.
Technical levels to watch for
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