Main focus on Tuesday morning was on the UK's Average Earnings Index, which caused a small increase of volatility on all GBP pairs.
Although, only a minute after the data was published the GBP pairs were back near previous levels. The GBP/USD was not an exception to the rule.
The review of the event will be available soon in the fundamental analysis section. Until then take a look at the previous notable data release.
The British Pound appreciated against the US Dollar, following the UK Retail Sales data released on Friday at 09:30 GMT. The GBP/USD exchange currency rate gained 21 pips or 0.16% during a minute, right after the release. The British Pound continued trading at the 1.2825 area against the US Dollar.
The Office for National Statistics released UK Retail Sales data that came out better than expected of 1.0%, compare to forecasted 0.2%.
"Clothing stores saw strong sales, luring consumers with price reductions, with food sales also growing after a slight dip after Christmas," said ONS statistician Rhian Murphy.
Busy week for the US and the UK
This week will have various data releases in various countries that will influence many currency exchange rates. Although, the main event of the week will be the release of the Federal Open Markets Committee Meeting Minutes on Wednesday.On Wednesday, the already mentioned FOMC Meeting Minutes will be published at 19:00 GMT. They are expected to cause an impact on all USD pairs.
On Thursday, EUR traders will pay attention to the Markit released European Services and Manufacturing PMIs. The German release at 08:30 GMT is the most important.
Later on during the same day the US Durable Goods Orders and Core Durable Goods Orders will be published.
The week will end with the Canadian Core Retail Sales at 13:30 GMT on Friday.
All of these events are scheduled to be covered by Dukascopy Analytics on our Dukascopy Webinars YouTube channel. The streams start ten minutes before the data release.
For more information watch the weekly Calendar Analysis stream recording.
GBP/USD short term review
There are no large changes on the hourly chart of GBP/USD. The pair still remains between the support of the 200-hour SMA at 1.2890 and the resistance of a monthly pivot point at 1.2925.The most notable change on Tuesday was that the 55-hour SMA had approached the 200-hour SMA, which strengthens the technical support that the pair has just below the 1.2900 level.
In general, from a technical perspective the rate should surge above the monthly PP and head for the 1.2975 level where the weekly R1 is located at.
Hourly Chart
On the daily chart it can be seen that the rate will face the resistance of the 200-day SMA at the 1.3010 level. Moreover, note that the SMA is moving lower and might strengthen the weekly R1 during this week.
Meanwhile, on Monday it could be observed that the pair is being supported by the 100-day simple moving average at the 1.2890 level. The 100-SMA seemed to be moving sideways.
It is possible that in the upcoming weeks the two SMAs will meet. Usually the meeting of SMAs are correlating with large sudden moves. Daily chart
Although, the trader set up pending orders were signalling that selling might occur, as 54% of all orders in the 100-pip range were set to sell.