GBP/USD twisting into bullish territory ahead of BoE’s Carney speech, FOMC Meeting Minutes

• The Sterling is leaning to the bullish side after economic data for the UK begins to turn positive.
• The upcoming London market session only sees a speech from the BoE’s Carney, but the US session will be bringing key data ahead of Friday’s NFP.

The GBP/USD is trading near the 1.3230 level after edging into a new high for the week on Wednesday, marking in a top at 1.3249.

The Sterling caught some bullish momentum on Wednesday after the UK’s Markit Services PMI came in at 55.1, clearing the expected steady reading at 54.0. GBP bulls will be looking to keep the good vibes rolling with a scheduled speech by the Bank of England’s (BoE) Governor Mark Carney at 10:00 GMT, though the BoE chief is unlikely to deliver any new developments as he is giving a prepared speech in Newcastle during his regular regional visit to the North East.

The upcoming US session, which sees American markets back in action after taking July 4th off in celebration of Independence Day, will be bringing Jobless Claims at 12:30 GMT, along with the Markit Services PMI  at 13:45 GMT, along with the FOMC’s latest Meeting Minutes at 18:00 GMT and as analysts at TD Securities noted in their event preview: “TD looks for an optimistic tone on-balance, in line with the upbeat economic outlook from the policy statement. ADP employment is out at 8:15 ET ahead of Friday’s payroll report and the market looks for a slight pickup in job growth to 190k, while initial jobless claims are expected to edge lower to 225k for the week of June 30. ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI will round out the data calendar and the market consensus is for the index to edge lower to 58.3.”

GBP/USD levels to watch

The Sterling-Dollar pairing is beginning to show signs of steady bullish potential, and as pointed out by FXStreet’s own Valeria Bednarik, “the 4 hours chart presents an increasing upward potential, with an intraday decline having found buying interest around its 20 SMA, which partially lost upward strength due to thin trading, as technical indicators head higher within positive territory about to challenge their weekly highs.”

Support levels: 1.3220 1.3185 1.3140      

Resistance levels:  1.3265 1.3300 1.3335