The British pound today rallied higher against the US dollar extending yesterday’s gains driven by positive investor sentiment and the mixed UK jobs data. The GBP/USD currency pair today posted gains after the release of the latest jobs data showing a better than expected unemployment rate.
The GBP/USD currency pair today rallied from a daily low of 1.2184 in the Asian session to a high of 1.2268 in the early American session but was slightly off these highs at the time of writing.
The currency pair rallied higher today extending yesterday’s short squeeze as the bulls controlled the price action. The pair spiked to its daily highs after the release of the latest UK labour market report by the Office for National Statistics before the London open. The data indicated that the number of job vacancies in the UK halved during the month of April coming in at 350,000 versus the expected 750,000 openings. However, the unemployment rate came in at 3.9%, which was better than the expected 4.4% triggering the pair’s spike. The number of jobless claims was also higher than expected painting a bleak picture of the UK job market.
The cable’s gains were limited by the current uncertainty surrounding the easing of COVID-19 lockdown measures in the UK. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently admitted his frustration with the easing measures that have been opposed by some leaders.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by tomorrow’s multiple UK releases and news headlines.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.2260 as at 17:29 GMT having rallied from a low of 1.2184. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 132.12 having risen from a low of 130.78.
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