- GBP/USD consolidates the previous day’s gains to the fresh yearly top.
- UK PM Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron ready for a showdown this weekend.
- EU, US criticize the British approval to Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine.
- UK Construction PMI, US employment data eyed for immediate direction.
GBP/USD seesaws in a nearly 25-pip trading range above 1.3445, currently teasing the intraday low of 1.3444 while heading into Friday’s London open. Although US dollar weakness propelled the quote to the yearly top the previous day, Brexit woes are back to haunt the Cable buyers by press time.
As per the latest updates, The Sky News suggests that the Brexit talks are going backwards while the UK Telegraph indicate a weekend meeting between UK PM Johnson and French leader Macron. The Telegraph also mentions an anonymous UK source saying, “Our hopes of any movement on Friday are pretty much gone now,” with Monday now set as the unofficial deadline for a deal by Downing Street.
Fisheries and the level playing field are the tough nuts to crack for the ex-neighbors. Latest chatters suggest that the EU raised new demands on fisheries, pushed by France, that weighed on the previous Brexit optimism.
On the other hand, the European Union (EU) termed the UK’s passage of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine as hasty while both of them are still planning to approve the medicine during January. However, recently, US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci apologized on Thursday for casting doubt on the rigour of the British regulators who approved the Pfizer Inc vaccine against COVID-19, saying he had faith in the quality of their work, per Reuters.
It should be noted that the US-China tussle is back in motion and the UK also doesn’t share cordial relations with Beijing, which in turn weigh on the market’s optimism. Also challenging the previous day’s upbeat mood is the uncertainty over the US stimulus and the rise in the covid numbers in the Western countries.
That said, equity futures in the US and the UK remain mildly bid while Asian stocks trade mixed. Though, the US 10-year Treasury yields remain depressed around 0.91% by press time.
Looking forward, the UK’s second reading of November month’s Construction PMI, 52 versus 53.1 prior, can offer immediate direction ahead of the last month’s employment data from the US.
Read: US Nonfarm Payrolls November Preview: Orders now, hiring to come
However, major attention will be given to the Brexit and the covid vaccine headlines and hence any positive from those fronts can help the Cable buyers to cross the 1.3500 threshold.
Technical analysis
A three-week-old ascending trend line, currently around the 1.3500 round-figure, offers immediate resistance to the pair ahead of December 2019 peak surrounding 1.3515. Though, any further upside beyond 1.3515 will aim for a nine-month-long resistance line, at 1.3640 now. Meanwhile, 21-day SMA near 1.3290 and October top near 1.3175 become the key downside supports. Overall, the RSI conditions are overbought and suggest a mild pullback before the next run-up.
Share
