Investing.com - The pound rose to session highs against the broadly weaker dollar on Monday as concerns over a lack of progress towards resolving a political impasse in the U.S. fanned worries over the threat of a U.S. default.
GBP/USD hit 1.6086 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6083, gaining 0.47%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6004, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.6176, Friday’s high.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday the House will not support bills to fully reopen the government or increase the U.S. debt ceiling unless the Obama administration agrees to talks aimed at reducing the deficit.
The comments fuelled fears that the political deadlock in Washington will not be resolved by October 17, the date which the Treasury Department has estimated the U.S. could risk an unprecedented default.
Meanwhile, delays in U.S. economic data releases fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off on any move to scale back its stimulus program.
The shutdown meant that Friday’s scheduled release of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for September was postponed and no new date was given for the release of the data.
Elsewhere, the World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for China on Monday. The Bank said it now expects the Chinese economy to expand by 7.5% this year, down from its April forecast of 8.3%. For 2014, the forecast was cut from 8% to 7.7%.
Sterling was also higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.34% to 0.8436.
In the euro zone, data released on Monday showed that the economy grew by 0.3% in the second quarter, unchanged from a preliminary estimate and in line with forecasts.
A separate report showed that the Sentix index of euro zone investor confidence dropped to 6.1, from 6.5 in September as concerns over the political deadlock in the U.S. hurt sentiment. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 10.6 this month.
GBP/USD hit 1.6086 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6083, gaining 0.47%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6004, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.6176, Friday’s high.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday the House will not support bills to fully reopen the government or increase the U.S. debt ceiling unless the Obama administration agrees to talks aimed at reducing the deficit.
The comments fuelled fears that the political deadlock in Washington will not be resolved by October 17, the date which the Treasury Department has estimated the U.S. could risk an unprecedented default.
Meanwhile, delays in U.S. economic data releases fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off on any move to scale back its stimulus program.
The shutdown meant that Friday’s scheduled release of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for September was postponed and no new date was given for the release of the data.
Elsewhere, the World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for China on Monday. The Bank said it now expects the Chinese economy to expand by 7.5% this year, down from its April forecast of 8.3%. For 2014, the forecast was cut from 8% to 7.7%.
Sterling was also higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.34% to 0.8436.
In the euro zone, data released on Monday showed that the economy grew by 0.3% in the second quarter, unchanged from a preliminary estimate and in line with forecasts.
A separate report showed that the Sentix index of euro zone investor confidence dropped to 6.1, from 6.5 in September as concerns over the political deadlock in the U.S. hurt sentiment. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 10.6 this month.