In the morning, the pound stabilized around 1.2655, showing mixed dynamics after a recent significant drop. This is due to the publication of important statistics on inflation in the UK, which may affect further actions of the Bank of England in the field of monetary policy.
In October, the annual consumer price index rose from 1.7% to 2.3%, exceeding expectations of 2.2%. Monthly growth was 0.6% against the projected 0.5%. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, showed a more modest increase, from 3.2% to 3.3%. The producer price index also increased — from 1.4% to 1.7% in annual terms and from 0.0% to 0.3% for the month. The acceleration of inflation was complemented by a sharp increase in retail prices: from 2.7% to 3.4% year—on-year, and from -0.3% to 0.5% in a month.
Such an increase in inflationary pressure is associated, in particular, with an increase in taxes. The head of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, had previously warned that businesses could offset the increase in national insurance contributions at the expense of consumers. This will increase the likelihood that the regulator will refrain from changing the rate in December and slow down monetary policy easing next year.
The situation in the US
Jeffrey Schmid, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, noted that the beginning of the monetary restriction cycle demonstrates confidence in reducing inflation to the target 2% with a balanced state of the labor and commodity markets. However, he warned that rising government debt could force the Central Bank to keep rates high for a long period to control inflation. At the same time, Schmid avoided commenting on a possible 25 basis point rate cut in December.
Today, market participants are focused on unemployment data. It is expected that the number of initial applications for benefits will grow from 217 thousand to 220 thousand, and the number of repeat applications will remain about 1.873 million.
Technical analysis for GBP/USD for today
The Bollinger Band indicator on the daily chart indicates a decline.
The MACD indicator is trying to form a buy signal.
Stochastic is showing steady growth, being in the central zone, which suggests a "bullish" potential in the near future.
Trading recommendations
We plan to open short positions with a confident breakdown down to 1.2600 with a target of 1.2500. We set the stop loss at 1.2650.
Purchases are possible at an upward breakout of 1.2700 with a target of 1.2800. In this case, we put the stop loss at 1.2650.