• 525 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 526 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 527 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 927 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 932 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 934 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 937 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 937 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 938 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 940 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 940 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 944 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 944 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 945 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 947 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 948 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 951 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 952 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 952 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 954 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Sterling's 180 Turn

Is it finally catching up with GBP? The British pound defied gravity during most of the week, shrugging disappointing figures on inflation, retail sales and the CBI trend survey. A somewhat hawkish speech by BoE MPC member Ben Broadbent on Wednesday may have been among the causes behind the gains. The pound even managed to rally against the US dollar on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of an expectedly hawkish set of FOMC minutes. Eventually, GBP saw the peak on Thursday evening with GBPUSD giving up at the near confluence of the 55-DMA and 200-DMAs at $1.5312 and $1.5336. Unfortunately, our short GBPUSD trade in the Premium Insights (opened on Nov 6) was stopped out at $1.5330, only 6 pips below the high of the week. After that, GBPUSD shed 1.5 cent to settle near $1.5200.

GBP/USD Chart

The latest figures from speculative futures' commitment report show sentiment continued to worsen in the week ending on Tuesday, following the 8,500% collapse (from 188 net long contracts to 8,488 net shorts) in the aftermath of aggressive downgrade in the BoE's quarterly inflation report. More interestingly, note the clear divergence between the steadily improved futures positioning since April and the downtrend in the GBPUSD spot rate since late June, which extended until the last two weeks. And just as GBPUSD seemed to mount its own positive divergence, Friday's sell-off happens.

Fortunately, we had two additional shorts in GBP, one of which, was locked in at a gain, the other allowed to progress. As for GBPUSD, a new note/trade will be issued for our Premium Insights subscribers ahead of Tuesday's inflation report testimony by governor Carney and chief Economist Haldane. Stay tuned.

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment