After hitting a peak at 1.4248 on 1st June 2021, the GBPUSD currency pair has since been on a downtrend and it currently sits around its November 2020 low. The bearish move of the pair, similar to the EURUSD, could be largely attributed to the strengthening US Dollar. The US Dollar Index (DXY) which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of rival currencies, jumped to a two-year high amid the global risk-off sentiment.
Market risk aversion amid Russo-Ukraine conflict
Despite the attempts of the Russian and Ukrainian officials to come to an agreement through peace talks, the situation has worsened in Ukraine after they reached an impasse. Till date, Russia’s invasion has damaged up to 30% of Ukraine’s infrastructure and the war is still escalating. Mayor of Mariupol, a city in Ukraine said that Russia is targeting civilians and had forcibly removed over 40,000 people to Russia or Russian-controlled regions in Ukraine. Moldovan foreign minister, Nicu Popescu also shed some light on the dire situation and mentioned that “everyone in Europe feels less secure than just two months ago.”
At times of market uncertainty, the safe haven currency US Dollar tends to strengthen.
Hawkish Fed
Apart from the risk-aversion, another major driver for the US dollar is the monetary policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve. The Fed had started policy tightening in its March meeting with a 0.25% rate hike with markets anticipating more aggressive hikes in the subsequent meetings.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard reinforced his hawkish stance on Monday by calling to increase the interest rates to 3.5% by end of 2022 in order to control the 40-year-high inflation. This means that the Fed would have to raise rates by 0.50% each time in the remaining six meetings this year. The Fed official also does not rule out a 0.75% rate increase if needed.
A hawkish central bank is typically bullish for a country’s currency, as increased yields boost demand for the currency.
Technical Analysis
On the weekly timeframe, the GBPUSD had completed a large head and shoulders formation on 7th March 2022. This is a typical bearish reversal pattern which when completed, prices are likely to fall to a magnitude similar to the height of the pattern’s “head”. The breakdown was validated when GBPUSD successfully retested and was subsequently rejected off the neckline support-turned-resistance on 23rd March. In terms of technical indicators, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) both show that bearish momentum is in full swing for the currency pair.
Another signal for further weakness in the pair is a looming Death Cross which is defined by a crossover of the 200 day exponential moving average (200 EMA) above the shorter term 50 day EMA.
Looking ahead, psychological level at 1.30 is an important support level to watch. If price successfully closes below this level, the pair will be met with a dynamic support trend line that connects lower lows since February 2021.
Key events to watch this week:
Tuesday, April 19
USD – Building Permits (MoM)(Mar), Housing Starts (MoM)(Mar)
Wednesday, April 20
USD – Fed’s Evans speech, IMF Meeting
Thursday, April 21
USD – Fed’s Beige Book, IMF Meeting, Initial Jobless Claims(Apr 15), Initial Jobless Claims 4-week average (Apr 15), Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey(Apr), Fed’s Chair Powell speech
GBP – BoE’s Mann speech
Friday, April 22
USD – Fed’s Chair Powell speech, IMF Meeting, S&P Global Composite PMI(Apr), S&P Global Manufacturing PMI(Apr), S&P Global Services PMI(Apr)
GBP – BoE’s Governor Bailey speech, GfK Consumer Confidence(Apr), Retail Sales (MoM)(Mar), Retail Sales (YoY)(Mar), Retail Sales ex-Fuel (MoM)(Mar), Retail Sales ex-Fuel (YoY)(Mar), S&P Global/CIPS Manufacturing PMI(Apr), S&P Global/CIPS Services PMI(Apr), BoE’s Governor Bailey speech
Trade Forex on Phillip MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
Trade Forex at zero commission on Phillip MetaTrader 5, a dynamic platform that offers low spreads. Integrated with Acuity’s Signal Centre and Trading Central Indicators, and available on mobile and desktop app, you will never miss a trading opportunity with Phillip MT5.
Download Trading Central’s Market Buzz for updates on more topics.
What’s more? Phillip MT5 is now supported on Mac OS! To install, simply download the file below and complete a simple installation process.