The Pound Sterling (GBP) discovers a stellar buying interest in Tuesday’s early European session as the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported upbeat employment data for the three months ending December. The labor demand remains upbeat, and Average Earnings rose at a higher pace than the expectations of market participants. Hiring from UK employers remained strong as business owners are optimistic about the economic outlook due to receding recession fears, easing price pressures, and hopes of rate cuts by the Bank of England (BoE).
While wage growth momentum was higher than market expectations, the pace was slower than readings in the three months ending November. This indicates that progress in the labor cost declining towards the required 2% target level has slowed. It suggests the BoE will be able to maintain an argument in favor of keeping interest rates at their current level for a more extended period. This has boosted the Pound Sterling as higher interest rates tend to attract more foreign inflows. Investors brace for higher volatility in the GBP/USD pair as the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will report January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on Tuesday. The appeal for the GBP/USD will strengthen if the inflation data remains softer than expected.
The US Dollar would face a sell-off as soft inflation data would allow the Fed to adopt a dovish interest rate stance sooner, which will increase foreign outflows. Pound Sterling advances vertically to 1.2666 on upbeat labor market data. The GBP/USD pair prints a fresh weekly high. The asset is sustaining comfortably above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), which trades around 1.2636. The outlook for the Pound Sterling will strengthen if it manages to sustain above the 20-day EMA, which trades near 1.2660. The 14-period Relative Strength Index (RSI) rebounds from 40.00, which indicates that market participants have utilized the correction as a buying opportunity. A bullish momentum would emerge if the RSI (14) climbs above 60.00.
