UK Employment Statistics: With the Unemployment Rate at 4.0%, Should We Watch the Pound's Direction?
13.09.2023
- U.S. Consumer Price Index
- UK GDP
In the previous day’s U.S. currency trading, the U.S. dollar emerged as the strongest currency from European to U.S. trading hours. The EUR/USD pair fell from 1.0768 to 1.0705, breaking below the 4-hour 20-MA with a real body candle.From a technical perspective, the EUR/USD pair is trading just below the daily 10-day moving average (MA), with the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) looming above. We will need to monitor the situation closely to see whether the U.S. dollar will regain strength and drive the EUR/USD lower after a period of consolidation.
European currencies saw the pound rise against the yen immediately after the release of yesterday’s UK employment data, as the unemployment rate came in at 4.0%, in line with expectations. The GBP/JPY pair rose from 182.943 to 183.821.During today’s Asian trading session, the pair has risen to 184.229, just below the 200-period SMA on the hourly chart. On the higher-time-frame weekly chart, the 10-period MA is acting as a support level, and the pair has rebounded firmly. However, on the daily chart, the pair has been forming lower highs, so caution is advised regarding the direction of the trend until it breaks above the recent high on the daily chart.
Today’s schedule includes UK GDP, UK manufacturing output, and the UK trade balance at 15:00 Asia time; Hungarian industrial production at 15:30; the Hong Kong Producer Price Index at 17:30 Europe time; the EurozoneIndustrial Production, at 19:00 the Israeli trade balance, during U.S. trading hours at 21:30 the U.S. Consumer Price Index, at 23:30 U.S. weekly crude oil inventories, at 26:00 the U.S. 30-year Treasury auction, and at 27:00 the U.S. budget balance.We will carefully assess the direction of the pound following the release of the UK employment report, which showed an unemployment rate of 4.0%.
Author: Keisuke Sakurai
