- 66% of pending orders in the 100-pip range are to SELL the Sterling
- SWFX market sentiment is 64% bullish
- Upcoming fundamental events: FOMC Member Bostic to speak, US Housing Starts, US Capacity Utilisation Rate, US Industrial Production m/m, US Mortgage Delinquencies
The pair's movement today is dependent on its ability to breach the strong resistance cluster at 1.3545.
The British Pound strengthened against the Greenback, following controversial UK Claimant Count Change data release on Tuesday. The GBP/USD currency pair gained 13 pips, or 0.10%, to continue going up to the 1.3555 level.
The Office for National Statistics released three datasets simultaneously, where Jobless Claims trippled from the forecast of 31.2K, compared to the 11.6K in the previous period.
Average Earnings Index came out lower-than-expected of 2.6%, compared to 2.8% in the previous period however, Unemployment Rate stayed in line with a forecast of 4.2%.
US Building Permits
The US Census Bureau is set to release monthly Building Permits and Housing Starts at 1230GMT. The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is likewise to speak at the same time about the economic outlook at the Augusta Cotton Exchange.
Some other data from the US are to be published later in the day, such as the Capacity Utilisation Rate and the Industrial Production at 1315GMT and the Mortgage Delinquencies at 1400GMT.
GBP/USD faces strong resistance at 1.3550
Bearish momentum prevailed during the first part of Tuesday, thus sending the Sterling 112 pips lower against the Greenback. The pair subsequently recovered some lost positions but nevertheless had failed to surpass the 1.3517 mark by Wednesday morning.It seems that GBP/USD should continue moving higher in this session. However, large gains are unlikely to occur, as traders might be reluctant to push the pair above the strong resistance of the 55-, 100– and 200-hour SMAs at 1.3550. The 55-period SMA (on 4H time-frame) is likewise located at this level.
This factors is likely to activate bears for another decline. Technical indicators are also flashing bearish signals. The nearest support is set by the weekly S1 and a channel line at 1.3465 and 1.3450, respectively.
Hourly chart
Strong downside risks have been pushing the GBP/USD exchange rate considerably lower for the third consecutive week. As a result, the pair reached the 200-day SMA near 1.3530 last week and has since remained near this line.
Technical indicators on the daily time-frame are located in the overbought territory. Thus, this moving average might mark a reversal point from which the Pound should move towards the 1.40 mark during the following weeks.
Daily Chart
The bullish SWFX market sentiment has remained unchanged with 64% of open positions being long today. Meanwhile, 62% of pending orders remain to sell the Pound (+5%).
The market sentiment of OANDA traders is strongly bullish, as 61% of them are holding long positions (-3%). Saxo Bank clients share the same sentiment with 57% long positions.
Spreads (avg, pip) / Trading volume / Volatility