GBP/USD tumbles below 1.2450 as US Dollar strengthens

The US dollar is rising sharply on Friday, trimming weekly losses after the release of US economic data. GBP/USD is falling almost a hundred pips on the day, trading at 1.2445. 

The pair changed its course after reaching a fresh multi-month high on Asian hours at 1.2546. From the top it dropped more than a hundred pips, and bottomed after Wall Street’s opening bell at 1.2435. 

USD shines despite US data 

The US Dollar is up across the board, ending a three-day negative streak and recovering from the lowest levels in months. Higher US yields are supporting the Greenback on Friday. The US 10-year yield reached 3.50% and the 2-year is at 4.09%, up by 2.90% for the day. 

Data from the US came in mixed. Retail Sales dropped by 1% in March, more than the 0.4% expected. Industrial Production expanded 0.4%, more than the 0.2% forecast. University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index improved in April to 63.5 from 62. 

The key support to the Dollar came from Fed talk. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Friday that the central bank has not made much progress on the inflation goal and said rates need to rise further. In an interview with CNBC, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee argued that “mild recession” is definitively on the table as a possibility. 

Technical levels