GBP/USD Daily Forecast – 07 January

From the UK, yesterday, Services PMI data was released. Service sector growth in the UK stabilised at a solid pace in December, according to the latest PMI survey data from Markit and CIPS. Total activity rose at a strong overall rate, supported by a sharp rise in new business. Employment increased at a robust pace, albeit the weakest in five months. Reflecting this, outstanding business continued to grow only modestly in December, and firms’ longer-term expectations for business activity were the weakest since early-2013. The index fell slightly to 55.5, from 55.9 in November, but remained just above the long-run survey trend level of 55.2, indicative of solid overall growth.

GBP/USD Daily Forecast – 07 January

Sterling tested 1.46 handle as a support in the course of the yesterday's session. It found it there in fact and managed to slightly by the end of the session, but still formed negative candle. Tomorrow, we expect that supportive candles around 1.4550 handle would offer short-term buying opportunity, while resistive candles above 1.4660 and 1.4680 level would be short-term selling signal. Read more...

UK Services PMI fell to 55.5 in December

GBP/USD Daily Forecast – 06 January

Yesterday, from the UK, Construction PMI data was released. UK construction companies ended 2015 with a robust and accelerated expansion of overall business activity, thereby indicating a rebound from the slowdown recorded in November. The headline seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index registered 57.8 in December, up from a seven-month low of 55.3 in November. Analysts were anticipating smaller incline to 56.1. Higher levels of construction output have been recorded by the survey since May 2013, but the overall rate of expansion remained slightly weaker than seen on average over this period.