GBP/USD: Up and down ahead of the UK Unemployment report
InvestingOnline.com
16/07/2018, 23:09The GBP/USD was inside a rollercoaster on Monday as the Sterling performed with a strong note in the European session, but it was overcome by the US dollar as the Greenback returned fueled by higher US yields and a mixed retail sales data.
According to the Census Bureau, “advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for June 2018, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $506.8 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent (±0.4 percent) from the previous month, and 6.6 percent (±0.5 percent) above June 2017.”
The news continues: “Total sales for the April 2018 through June 2018 period were up 5.9 percent (±0.5 percent) from the same period a year ago. The April 2018 to May 2018 percent change was revised from up 0.8 percent (±0.5 percent) to up 1.3 percent (±0.2 percent).”
Retail sales ex-autos rose 0.4% in June, in line with expectations but well below 1.4% advance in May.
New York Empire States Manufacturing Index fell to 22.6 in July from 25.0 in June, still a high number but a drop finally. The expectations were a more significant decline to 22.0.
GBP/USD Ahead UK Unemployment report
GBPUSD daily chart July 16
The British Pound rallied 0.50% or 65 pips in the Monday morning to reach a 6-day high around 1.3295. However, US data put the pair under pressure with the cable testing the 1.3220 area.
On Tuesday, Cable is trading 1.3235, looking for direction after performing an inverted hammer on Monday. In the big picture, the chart is showing a technical bounce at a dynamic support now at 1.3100. However, the GBP/USD is contained by the 50-day moving average.
Following the Forex rollercoaster, Cable is now trading in a wait-and-see mode ahead of the United Kingdom’s Inflation.
The ILO unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.2% in the three months to May. Average earnings including bonus are expected to rise 2.5% in the three months to May windows. Excluding bonuses is expected to have a slight slowdown to a growth of 2.7% in May, from a 2.8% in April.
