Key Highlights
- The British Pound traded lower recently and broke the 1.4100 support against the US Dollar.
- There was a break below a major bullish trend line with support at 1.4060 on the 4-hours chart of GBP/USD.
- The US ADP Employment Change in March 2018 posted a rise of 241K, more than the forecast of 205K.
- Today, the UK Services PMI for March 2018 will be released, which is forecasted to decrease from 54.5 to 54.0.
GBPUSD Technical Analysis
After a decent upside move above the 1.4200 level, the British Pound formed a short-term top at 1.4246 against the US Dollar. The GBP/USD pair started a downside move and traded below 1.4100.
The pair declined and broke the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the 1.3889 low to 1.4246 high. More importantly, there was a break below a major bullish trend line with support at 1.4060 on the 4-hours.
The downside move was protected by the 100 (red) simple moving averages (4-hours) at 1.4030. However, the pair remains at a risk of more losses as long as it is below 1.4080.
If sellers push the pair below 1.4030 and the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the 1.3889 low to 1.4246 high, there could be more losses.
On the upside, the 1.4080 and 1.4100 levels are important hurdles for a fresh upside wave. A close above 1.4100 may perhaps push the pair towards the 1.4200 level.
Recently in the US, the ADP Employment Change for March 2018 was released by the Automatic Data Processing, Inc. The market was positioned for rise of 205K jobs compared with the last 235K.
However, the result was better since there was a rise of 241K. Commenting on the same, the vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, Ahu Yildirmaz, stated:
We saw impressive momentum in the first quarter of 2018 with more jobs added per month on average than in 2017. Midsized businesses added nearly half of all jobs this month, the best growth this segment has seen since the fall of 2014.
Overall, the US Dollar may continue to gain versus its peers such as the Euro, Pound, and others in the near term.
Economic Releases to Watch Today
- Germany’s Services PMI for March 2018 – Forecast 54.2, versus 54.2 previous.
- UK Services PMI for March 2018 – Forecast 54.0, versus 54.5 previous.
- Euro Zone Services PMI for March 2018 – Forecast 55.0, versus 55.0 previous.
- US Initial Jobless Claims – Forecast 225K, versus 215K previous.
- US Trade Balance Feb 2018 – Forecast $-56.8B, versus $-56.6B previous.
