GBP/USD rises ahead of UK earnings and employment data

• GBP/USD rose another 0.3% on Monday, chalking in a fifth straight gain.
• Global markets traded on a sedate note with US market dark for a holiday.
• Key UK wages and labor data in the barrel for Tuesday.

GBP/USD traded its way into an easy fifth straight gain on Monday, climbing nearly one-third of one percent and crossing back over the 1.2600 handle. Money market flows were constrained to kick off the new trading week with US market dark for the President's Day holiday.

UK Average Earnings for the three months ended in December are expected to tick higher on an annualized basis on Tuesday. The headline figure for both with and without bonuses factored in is expected to print at 5.9%, compared to the previous print of 5.6%. The UK Claimant Count Change for January is also projected to swing higher to 10K net new unemployment benefits seekers over the month, compared to the previous 0.7K print. The ILO Unemployment Rate is also expected to rise to 4.5% from 4.4%.

The key US data print this week will be the upcoming Meeting Minutes from the Federal Reserve's (Fed) latest rate call, due on Wednesday. US Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) survey results are also due this week, but not until Friday.

GBP/USD price forecast

GBP/USD staged another intraday gain on Monday, closing north of the 1.2600 handle for the first time mid-December. The pair is grinding its way steadily higher, but price action still remains capped just south of the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near 1.2660.

Cable bidders have pushed the pair up from its last swing low into 1.2100 in January, and the current bull run has added 4.4% to GBP/USD. However, bullish sentiment is proving to be a fickle beast, and the latest upswing is still fresh out of a noisy congestion period that kept Cable bids battling around the 1.2400 handle.

GBP/USD daily chart