Pound Gains as Soft Jobs Data Weighs on Dollar Ahead of NFP

The British Pound (GBP) has seen gains against the US Dollar (USD), rising by 0.12% on Wednesday as the dollar registers back-to-back days of losses.

This follows a soft ADP jobs report in July, which showed an easing from 98K to 44K, below forecasts of 70K. The data revealed that education and health services added 36K people to the workforce, while leisure and hospitality cut 11K, mostly due to the recently finished World Cup.

Despite resilient services activity, as indicated by the ISM Services PMI remaining in expansion territory at 54.1, below forecasts of 54.5, market participants estimate that the US economy created 80K jobs in July, up from June's 57K. The Unemployment Rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.2%.