GBP/USD spikes to over one-week tops, around 1.3970 on weaker NFP report

GBP/USD rallied to over one-week tops amid dismal NFP-led broad-based USD selloff.
The US economy added 266K jobs in April and the jobless rate ticked higher to 6.1%.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The GBP/USD pair caught some aggressive bets during the early North American session and shot to over one-week tops, around the 1.3970 region in reaction to the dismal US jobs report.

The headline NFP showed that the US economy added only 266K new jobs in April as compared to consensus estimates pointing to a reading of nearly one million. Adding to this, the previous month's reading was also revised down to 770K from 916K reported previously and the unemployment rate unexpectedly edged higher to 6.1% from 6.0% in March.

The disappointing details reaffirmed market expectations that the Fed will keep interest rates low for a longer period and triggered some aggressive selling around the US dollar. This, in turn, was seen as a key factor that provided a modest lift to the GBP/USD pair. However, the uncertainty over the outcome of the Scottish election might cap the upside.

Hence, it will be prudent to wait for some strong follow-through buying, possibly beyond the key 1.4000 psychological mark before traders start positioning for any further near-term appreciating move.

Technical levels to watch

GBP/USD

Overview
Today last price	1.39
Today Daily Change	0.0009
Today Daily Change %	0.06
Today daily open	1.3891

Trends
Daily SMA20	1.3863
Daily SMA50	1.3857
Daily SMA100	1.3779
Daily SMA200	1.3445

Levels
Previous Daily High	1.3941
Previous Daily Low	1.3857
Previous Weekly High	1.3976
Previous Weekly Low	1.3803
Previous Monthly High	1.4009
Previous Monthly Low	1.3669
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1.3889
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1.3909
Daily Pivot Point S1	1.3852
Daily Pivot Point S2	1.3813
Daily Pivot Point S3	1.3768
Daily Pivot Point R1	1.3935
Daily Pivot Point R2	1.398
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.4019

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

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

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