Pound Sterling Price News and Forecast: GBP/USD – Inflation shock lifts cable past key resistance

FXStreet Team FXStreet

GBP/USD: Inflation shock lifts cable past key resistance – What's next?

UK inflation surprised markets in April, jumping to 3.5%, the highest rate since January 2024. The unexpected surge was largely driven by rising household bills and sticky services inflation. This inflationary spike complicates the Bank of England's (BoE) path forward, casting doubt on the likelihood of near-term rate cuts and fueling expectations that rates may remain elevated for longer than anticipated. Read more...

GBP/USD Forecast: Pound Sterling retreats after testing key resistance on UK inflation

GBP/USD gathered strength in the European morning on Wednesday rose to its highest level since February 2022 near 1.3470. Although the pair loses its traction following the initial upsurge, the technical outlook suggests that the bullish bias remains unchanged.

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday that annual inflation in the UK, as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), climbed to 3.5% in April from 2.6% in March. This reading came in above the market expectation of 3.3%. Additionally, the CPI rose by 1.2% on a monthly basis after increasing by 0.3% in March, while the core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased by 3.8% on a yearly basis. Read more...

GBP/USD spikes to new highs – More upside after A-B-C?

UK inflation came in hotter than expected at 3.5% versus 3.3%, which raises the likelihood that the Bank of England could delay potential rate cuts. As we know, if inflation overshoots expectations while rate cuts are still on the table, it risks fueling inflation even further. So the market may now be thinking the BoE will hold off and possibly shift to a more hawkish tone.

That’s likely why Cable briefly reached new highs and even broke to fresh highs of the year before pulling back slightly. Now the question is whether that spike was part of an ending diagonal—or maybe just a leading diagonal—followed by an a-b-c retracement before more upside. Read more...

Author

FXStreet Team

FXStreet

Markets move fast. We move first.

Orange Juice Newsletter brings you expert driven insights - not headlines. Every day on your inbox.

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD bounces toward 1.1750 as US Dollar loses strength

EUR/USD returned to the 1.1750 price zone in the American session on Friday, despite falling Wall Street, which indicates risk aversion. Trading conditions remain thin following the New Year holiday and ahead of the weekend, with the focus shifting to US employment and European data scheduled for next week.

GBP/USD nears 1.3500, holds within familiar levels

After testing 1.3400 on the last day of 2025, GBP/USD managed to stage a rebound. Nevertheless, the pair finds it difficult to gather momentum and trades with modest intraday gains at around 1.3490 as market participants remain in holiday mood.

Gold trims intraday gains, approaches $4,300

Gold retreated sharply from the $4,400 area and trades flat for the day in the $4,320 price zone. Choppy trading conditions exacerbated the intraday decline, although XAU/USD bearish case is out of the picture, considering growing expectations for a dovish Fed and persistent geopolitical tensions.

Cardano gains early New Year momentum, bulls target falling wedge breakout

Cardano kicks off the New Year on a positive note and is extending gains, trading above $0.36 at the time of writing on Friday. Improving on-chain and derivatives data point to growing bullish interest, while the technical outlook keeps an upside breakout in focus.

Economic outlook 2026-2027 in advanced countries: Solidity test

After a year marked by global economic resilience and ending on a note of optimism, 2026 looks promising and could be a year of solid economic performance. In our baseline scenario, we expect most of the supportive factors at work in 2025 to continue to play a role in 2026.

Crypto market outlook for 2026

Year 2025 was volatile, as crypto often is. Among positive catalysts were favourable regulatory changes in the U.S., rise of Digital Asset Treasuries (DAT), adoption of AI and tokenization of Real-World-Assets (RWA).