Forex: GBP/USD loses 1.5500 handle

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The GBP/USD printed its highest price of the day at 1.5518 in mid-London morning, but the pair rapidly inverted its direction and fell through the 1.5500 handle to trade around 1.5475. Worthy of note is yesterday’s narrow trade and Doji candle following last week’s upside from 1.5200 that was kept from closing above 1.5500.

UK money supply fell -0.9% (from -0.5%) in March (MoM), instead of rising 0.4%. YoY data eased from 0.5% to 0.3%. Consumer credit came in at £0.5B as expected and net lending to individuals eased from £1.5B to £0.9B. UK mortgage approvals rose from 51.947K to 53.504K, beating 52.500K consensus.

In regard to the US economic calendar ahead: “Conference Board Consumer Confidence for April is expected to rise from 59.7 to 61.0 but we see risks tilted towards a better reading, as we do with the Chicago PMI. S&P/Case-Shiller home price data rounds out the key data today, with home prices expected to improve further in spite of some of the softer sales and construction data of late”, wrote TD Securities analysts.

“Although yesterday's slide is still struggling above 1.5470 support, my outlook is bearish, for a slide through 1.5417, en route to 1.5340 and 1.5200 lows. Initial intraday resistance is projected at 1.5513, followed by the major one at 1.5600”, wrote Deltastock.com analyst Stoyan Mihaylov.