Sterling Pushes Higher Following Robust Housing Price Report

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Sterling pushed above the 1.53 level which was trend line resistance and is poised to move higher testing 1.54. Stronger than expected housing data helped the UK currency gain traction despite a softer than expected CBI survey. The Federal Reserve concludes its two day meeting today, and although nothing is expected, the language in the statement will be carefully analyzed to extract the next move for the US central bank.

UK April Nationwide house prices lifted by 1.0% month over month, beating all the forecasts and rising from 0.1% in March. The year over year figure rose to 5.2%, up from 5.1% in March, rising in the annual comparison for the first time in seven months. Trending improvement in the labor market, rising real wages and tight supply are underpinning the market.

Offsetting the positive housing news was softer than expected sales. The UK CBI distributive trends survey disappointed at the headline realized sales level in April, which dipped to a balance of +12 from +18 in the previous month. The expected sales in the month ahead, however, was very robust at +40. This is the highest level the expectations balance has been in 11 months. Trending improvements in real wages on the back of a strengthening labor market suggests that the outlook for the retail sector is good.

Looking forward, the Fed will announce is MPC news at 2pm ET. While no significant policy change is expected from the FOMC, focus will be on the statement and the nuances in the forward guidance language. They probably won’t be so forthcoming about the June meeting especially since they will stress the policy path is data-dependent. Nevertheless, assuming policymakers acknowledge yet further slowing in growth after saying in March that growth had moderated somewhat, the markets should infer that rate liftoff in June is highly unlikely.

The technicals on the GBP/USD are positive after the currency pair climbed above a long term downward sloping trend line. Momentum is positive as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence index is printing in positive territory with an upward sloping trajectory.

The post Sterling Pushes Higher Following Robust Housing Price Report appeared first on Forex Circles.

Source:: Sterling Pushes Higher Following Robust Housing Price Report

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