- The US economy added 224K jobs in June, forcing investors to scale back Fed rate cut bets.
- Rallying US bond yields provide a goodish lift to the USD and adds to the bearish pressure.
The GBP/USD pair maintained its offered tone through the early North-American session and refreshed 2-1/2 week lows in reaction to upbeat headline NFP print.
The US monthly jobs report showed that the US economy added 224K new jobs in June, surpassing consensus estimates of 160K by a big margin and much higher than the previous month’s downwardly revised reading of 72K.
The data was strong enough to offset an uptick in the unemployment rate to 3.7% from 3.6% previous and stable wage growth data, showing that average hourly wages in June increased 0.2% as compared to 0.3% anticipated.
The report might have forced investors to scale back expectations for an imminent easing cycle by the Fed, which was evident from a sudden upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields and provided a goodish lift to the US Dollar.
Against the backdrop of growing no-deal Brexit fears – further fueled by the UK PM candidate Boris Johnson’s comments on Friday, kept exerting some heavy pressure and dragged the pair back closer to multi-month lows.
The pair dropped within the striking distance of the key 1.2500 psychological mark, which if broken should open the room for a further near-term depreciating move amid persistent UK political and economic uncertainties.
Nevertheless, the pair remains on track to end the week on a downbeat note, posting losses for the second consecutive week and possibly record its lowest weekly close since early-April 2017, or over two-years.
Technical levels to watch
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