Pound Sterling Price News and Forecast: GBP/USD – Rally stalls after touching 200-week SMA

GBP/USD loses ground on soft employment report

The British pound has extended its losses on Tuesday. In the European session, GBP/USD is trading at 1.2799, down 0.26%. The UK labor market has remained resilient despite elevated interest rates but is showing signs of cracks, based on today’s employment release.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in the three months to January, up from 3.8% in the three months to December and above the market estimate of 3.8%. Wage growth excluding bonuses dropped to 6.1% in the same period, down from 6.2%. Employment growth declined by 21,000, compared to a 72,000 gain in the three months to December and missing the market estimate of a gain of 10,000. Read more...

GBP/USD price analysis: Rally stalls after touching 200-week SMA

GBP/USD has been rallying higher but it has stalled at the start of the new week after touching resistance at the 200-week Simple Moving Average (SMA). So far, the pullback looks like a correction in an evolving uptrend. 

The pair has probably formed a bullish three-wave ABC Measured Move. If so, we are currently in the middle of the C wave, which should end somewhere between 1.3045  – 61.8% Fibonacci extension of wave A – and 1.3340, which is where C is 100% of A. The July highs in the 1.3130s is another target for the end of C. Read more...

Pound Sterling edges down on weak UK Employment, US Inflation in focus

The Pound Sterling (GBP) drops to the round-level support of 1.2800 in Tuesday’s European session as the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported soft Employment data. Figures from the UK ONS show that higher interest rates from the Bank of England (BoE) and deepening cost-of-living crisis are starting to dampen labor market conditions.

The UK’s Unemployment Rate increased to 3.9%, employers fired 21K workers, and Average Earnings grew at a slower pace in the three months ending January. The labor market data clearly demonstrates uncertainty over the economic outlook, which could force BoE policymakers to start reducing interest rates earlier than previously expected. Read more...