© Dukascopy Bank SA
The Cable started previous week on a rather positive note; however, unexpectedly plummeted on Tuesday, printing fresh eight-month lows. Meanwhile, according to the Nationwide building society, house prices notably accelerated in December, from 0.1% to 0.8% month-on-month, which pushed the yearly change higher from 3.7% to 4.5%. The next day, the Cable was trading again with losses, ignoring a set of mediocre data from the US, especially the Chicago PMI unexpectedly falling to the six-year bottom in December. Therefore, the Sterling extended its eight-month low to $1.4734, as bears just kept rolling strongly in the second half of December.
Concerning the present week, sentiment experienced some changes, but the vast majority of all votes are still negative on the GBP/USD currency pair, namely 71% of them. The average prediction for Friday of this week is located around the 1.480 major level. British Manufacturing Service Activity already has been announced on Monday and unexpectedly weakened in December, adding to signs the sector is unlikely to contribute much to overall economic growth. The Markit/CIPS manufacturing PMI dropped to 51.9 last month, sliding to the lowest level in three months, compared with 52.5 in November. Also, the survey data on service sector activity is going to be released on Wednesday, while report on the trade balance, in turn, on Friday. The US is to round up the week with the closely watched nonfarm payrolls report.
© Dukascopy Bank SA