The GBPUSD currency pair surged 0.42% on Tuesday as the latest US jobs report revealed a labour mark weakness, while retail sales were unexpectedly unchanged from September figures, an indication of consumers’ resilience.
Sterling-dollar traded at 1.3432 after reaching a daily low of 1.3355.
US nonfarm payrolls (NFP) in November came at 64,000, but better than the 50,000 expected, an improvement compared to October’s -105,000 print. The data pushed the unemployment rate from 4.4% to 4.6%, above estimates of 4.5% by Federal Reserve officials, which updated their forecasts at the Summary of Economic Projections (SEP).
Other data revealed that retail sales in October remained unchanged at 0%, down from September’s 0.1% increase and below forecasts for a 0.1% gain. Retail sales in the control group, which is used with the consumer spending component of the gross domestic product (GDP), improved from -0.1% contraction and rose sharply 0.8% for the same period.
After the data, Cable rose towards the daily high while the DXY Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback’s value against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.35% down at 97.91.
In the UK, jobs data pushed the unemployment rate to its highest level since early 2021. At the same time, S&P Global Purchasing Managers Indices (PMIs) suggested that business activity remains robust.
Despite this, expectations that the Bank of England would cut rates on Thursday remain at a 92% chance, revealed Capital Edge rates data. For 2026, traders had priced in 60 bps of easing.
A Reuters poll revealed that most analysts expect the BoE to reduce the Bank Rate from 4% to 3.75%.
GBPUSD charts by TradingView
(Source: OANDA)
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