GBP/USD rallies back closer to weekly high, around mid-1.2000s on mixed US jobs data

GBP/USD adds to its intraday gains and spikes closer to the weekly high in the last hour.
The upbeat UK GDP print continues to underpin the GBP and extend support to the pair.
The mixed US NFP report weighs heavily on the USD and provides an additional boost.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The GBP/USD pair catches fresh bids during the early North American session and jumps to the 1.2035-1.2040 area, back closer to the weekly top in reaction to the mixed US monthly jobs data.

The headline NFP showed that the US economy added 311K new jobs in February, beating consensus estimates for a reading of 205K by a big margin. This, however, marks a sharp slowdown from the previous month's downwardly revised reading of 504K. Adding to this, the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 3.6% from 3.4% and wages also fell short of market estimates, rising by 0.2% for the month and a 4.6% YoY rate.

The data further points to a softening US labor market and forces investors to scale back their bets for a jumbo 50 bps rate hike at the upcoming FOMC meeting on March 21-21, which is evident from a further decline in the US Treasury bond yields. Apart from this, a goodish recovery in the US equity futures weighs heavily on the safe-haven US Dollar, which, in turn, assists the GBP/USD pair to build on its strong intraday gains.

The British Pound, on the other hand, continues to draw support from the better-than-expected UK monthly GDP print, which showed that the economy expanded by 0.3% in January. This indicates a resilient British economy, which could allow the Bank of England (BoE) to hike interest rates again later this month. This is seen as another factor providing a boost to the GBP/USD pair and supporting prospects for additional gains.

Technical levels to watch

GBP/USD

Overview
Today last price	1.1994
Today Daily Change	0.0075
Today Daily Change %	0.63
Today daily open	1.1919

Trends
Daily SMA20	1.2015
Daily SMA50	1.213
Daily SMA100	1.201
Daily SMA200	1.1903

Levels
Previous Daily High	1.1939
Previous Daily Low	1.1832
Previous Weekly High	1.2143
Previous Weekly Low	1.1922
Previous Monthly High	1.2402
Previous Monthly Low	1.1915
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1.1898
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1.1873
Daily Pivot Point S1	1.1854
Daily Pivot Point S2	1.179
Daily Pivot Point S3	1.1747
Daily Pivot Point R1	1.1961
Daily Pivot Point R2	1.2003
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.2068

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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