{"id":30034,"date":"2026-03-06T05:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/30034\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:00:23","slug":"ahead-of-nfp-gbp-usd-slipped-0-2-near-1-3350-constrained-in-tense-trade-around-three-month-lows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/30034\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of NFP, GBP\/USD slipped 0.2%, near 1.3350, constrained in tense trade around three-month lows"},"content":{"rendered":"GBP\/USD fell 0.2% on Thursday to near 1.3350, staying close to three-month lows. It briefly rose on reports of Iran signalling openness to talks with the CIA, but the move faded after Israeli officials reportedly urged Washington to ignore it.\n\nThe pair has traded in a tight range around key daily moving averages. Recent small-bodied daily candles follow a drop from the late-January high near 1.3870.\n\n

Uk Outlook And Central Bank Signals<\/h3>\nIn the UK, the Office for Budget Responsibility cut its 2026 growth forecast to 1.1% from 1.4%. It also raised the expected peak unemployment rate to 5.3% from 4.9% later this year.\n\nThe Bank of England kept rates at 3.75% in February by a 5-4 vote. Markets now price a 20% chance of a cut at the March 19 meeting, down from about 75% a week ago, and expect one 25 basis point cut for the year.\n\nIn the US, attention turns to Friday\u2019s Non-farm Payrolls, with consensus at about 60K for February after 130K in January. On the chart, price is at 1.3351, with resistance at 1.3400\u20131.3500 and support near 1.3360, then 1.3300 and 1.32.\n\nLooking back to early March 2025, we saw the market grappling with high oil prices and a divided Bank of England. The geopolitical tensions at the time crushed expectations for rate cuts, and the Office for Budget Responsibility issued a notably downbeat forecast for UK growth. That period set the stage for a challenging year for Sterling as the economy struggled under the weight of restrictive policy.\n\nToday, the situation has evolved as those pressures have eased, with inflation now showing clear signs of cooling. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to 2.2% in January 2026, a sharp drop from the highs seen a year ago and much closer to the Bank’s target. This reinforces expectations that the Bank of England will be one of the first major central banks to cut interest rates in the coming months.\n\n

Policy Divergence And Trade Positioning<\/h3>\nIn contrast, the United States economy has remained more robust, maintaining a key divergence. The most recent non-farm payrolls report for January 2026 showed a solid gain of 185,000 jobs, and with US core inflation holding firmer near 2.7%, the Federal Reserve has justification to remain patient. This fundamental mismatch continues to weigh on the GBP\/USD exchange rate, which has since broken below the key 1.3300 support level discussed last year.\n\nFor the coming weeks, we should consider strategies that benefit from this policy divergence. Buying GBP\/USD put options offers a clear way to position for further weakness, especially ahead of the next Bank of England meeting where dovish commentary is expected. Alternatively, selling out-of-the-money call options or implementing a bear call spread could be an effective way to generate income, capitalizing on the view that any rallies in Sterling will likely be limited and short-lived.\n\nCreate your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b>\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GBP\/USD hovers near three-month lows as UK growth outlook weakens; markets await US jobs report signals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}