Pound Sterling Price News and Forecast: GBP/USD under policy pressure

FXStreet Team FXStreet

GBP/USD under policy pressure: What lies ahead for the Prime Minister?

GBP/USD held at 1.3528 on Thursday following an overnight decline. The pound remains under pressure, close to its lowest levels since late April, amid media reports of a potential leadership contest within the ruling party. According to The Times, British Health Minister Wes Streeting is preparing to launch a campaign against Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Despite pressure from parts of the government and more than 80 Labour Party MPs, Starmer has reiterated that he does not intend to resign following the party’s weak performance in the local elections. The cabinet composition remains largely stable, despite a few resignations from junior ministers. Read more...

British Pound holds above 1.3500, as UK GDP, manufacturing data beat expectations

The Pound (GBP) remains practically flat against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday, trading at 1.3520 at the moment of writing, and consolidating losses after pulling back from 1.3650 highs earlier in the week. The pair, however, is likely to draw some support from UK data, as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and manufacturing figures released on Thursday have beaten market expectations.

British preliminary Q1 GDP data revealed that the economy accelerated to a 0.6% growth in the first three months of the year, as expected, following a 0.2% growth in the previous quarter. The positive surprise, however, was the 0.3% GDP growth posted in March, which beats expectations of a 0.2% contraction and eases concerns about a sharp economic downturn stemming from the war in Iran. Read more...

Author

FXStreet Team

FXStreet

Composed of a group of economic journalists and FX experts, the FXStreet content team produces and oversees all content published on FXStreet. It provides a purely journalistic approach to the Forex market.

AUD/USD flirts with 0.7000, lowest since early August amid bullish USD

AUD/USD hits a fresh low since early August during the Asian session on Friday and looks vulnerable near 0.7000 after breaking below the 200-day SMA overnight. Against the backdrop of the hawkish Fed, a two-day rally in oil prices revives inflation fears and continues to push US bond yields to multi-year highs. Adding to this, geopolitical risks lift the US Dollar to a two-month high, overshadowing RBA rate hike bets and weighing on the pair.

USD/JPY pulls back from three-week high after failing near 159.00

USD/JPY edges lower during the Asian session on Friday, stalling its recent strong move to a three-week high of 159.00 as Japanese Yen bears turn cautious amid intervention fears. Meanwhile, the US Dollar retains a strong bullish undertone as the Fed's hawkish outlook and oil-driven inflation fears continue to push US bond yields to multi-year peaks. Furthermore, the BoJ's dovish rate hike last week might cap JPY and support spot prices.

Gold treads water below $4,300

Gold grabs some buying attention and advances marginally at the end of the week, partially retracing the weekly decline, although it is still navigating below the key $4,300 mark per troy ounce. The fresh selling bias on the Greenback and the modest decline in US Treasury yields appear to support the humble advance in the precious metal.

Week ahead: Rate hike bets face a crucial data week

Despite the solid drop from the mid-September high, oil prices remained in the driver’s seat for another week, setting the tone in financial markets. Six months have passed since the late-February start of the US-Iran conflict, and there is still no breakthrough in the stalled talks, despite pressure from regional leaders and the rest of the world.

CFTC Report: Defensive currency positioning takes hold

The week in one sentence: Sterling and Euro shorts deepened in the week to September 22, while Yen longs were cut sharply. Oil positioning improved despite a steep price decline, and Gold exposure remained crowded. The main signal was a more defensive currency positioning backdrop.

Fed vs BoJ: Both hiked. The market only believes one of them – and the chart shows which

The Fed and the BoJ have just done something remarkably similar. Both central banks raised interest rates by 25 bps last week, both are confronting inflation risks, and both signal that future decisions will depend on incoming economic data.