Tag: GBP\USD (FOREX:GBPUSD)

Hedge Your Dollars With Pounds?

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


Which currency is set to outperform? Is it the US Dollar or the Pound Sterling? Consider if you will that, despite some notable headwinds, the Fed is moving closer to a rate hike. For many, that suggests the Dollar as the best bet for the next 12 months. Especially with unemployment at 5.3% and core CPI now rebounding to 1.8% Year on Year. Yet some US data releases are still only "mildly" positive; for example gains in wages, slowed from 2.3% to just 2%.

On the other side of the Atlantic the Bank of England has signaled that it's warming up towards a rate hike, too. Yet, unlike in the US, gains in wages have been rising by 3.2% Year on Year. Moreover, GDP has been growing at a pace of 0.4% (QoQ) in Q1, far better than the negative figure posted by the US. So is the Sterling looking better than the Dollar? Not exactly. Then is the Dollar looking better than Sterling? The answer is, once again, not exactly. But here's the thing. Continue reading "Hedge Your Dollars With Pounds?" →

GBP/USD Pair Rises from Eight-Month Trough Following Release of UK Data

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By: Susan Wade

In March the pound rose against the US dollar, pulling the currency combination from eight-month lows.

The pound increased following the release of information that showed that the UK's trade deficit had narrowed more than expected over the course of January.

The effect of the trend was intensified by market attitudes towards the dollar, which cooled ahead of the economic reports that American is set to release.

The Pound Rises as the Dollar Falls

The trend that we are seeing within the market is an interesting one, due to the duality of phenomena influencing both the pound and the dollar. Continue reading "GBP/USD Pair Rises from Eight-Month Trough Following Release of UK Data" →

Sterling by the Charts

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


The UK economy, it seems, has been a study in opposites. It has swung from having been the fastest to the slowest, from experiencing high growth and then sluggishness, from moving from a high inflation environment to a low inflation environment. The UK economy is the great dichotomy, comprised of fading expectations and the bursting of optimistic sentiment that together carves the path of the Pound Sterling, a path that is as shaky now as it ever was and which, it seems, has been broken just this week.

Sterling Not Coming Back?

Looking at the chart below, we can tell much about the governing dynamics of Sterling buyers and sellers. Dips in the Sterling trade vs the Dollar were plentiful; back in 2009, when the crisis was at its climax, back in 2010, when UK growth was pegged as just “sluggish,” and then back in 2013, when it seemed the UK economy had finally lost all steam. Yet each and every time Sterling buyers emerged; in fact, not only did they emerge and crowd back into what they deemed an undervalued currency, but each time they emerged at a higher point, painting a picture of a fragile but steadily ascending path for the Pound vs the Dollar. Yet as the latest point on the chart shows, at this point in time the buyers have not re-emerged, letting the Pound break its ascending path. Why, this time in particular, are Sterling buyers not coming back? Continue reading "Sterling by the Charts" →