The pound battles for a place under the sun after releaseof the latest jobs report. British firms increased hiring at a record pace inAugust, shortly before the end of the government's furlough scheme. Favorabledynamics of the key macroeconomic parameter for the Bank of England's policy islikely to bring the date of the first rate hike closer, which the Central Bankmay hint at the upcoming meeting.

The number of employees in UK companies rose by 207K,while unemployment fell 0.1% to 4.5%. The dynamics of employment may allow theBank of England to be the first among the large Central Banks to raise theinterest rate. This is also indicated by inflation, which is now almost doublethe target level of 2%. The growth rate of wages, which makes a significantcontribution to inflation, has slowed down, but remains at an elevated level(6.0%).

The furlough scheme has been discontinued on September30 and the key question is how negatively this will affect the level ofunemployment. At least 1 million Britons have benefited from the program.

The BoE is rumored to make its first tightening step onDecember meeting. By this time, the pound has a good opportunity to rise oncorresponding expectations especially against EUR. However, in regards toperformance against USD, the key piece of the puzzle is the tightening path ofthe Fed, which will likely be clarified at the key November meeting of the Fed.

Considering the GBPUSD technical setup, we can note apositive short-term disposition for the pound and slightly downbeat in themedium term. The chart below shows how the pair bounced from the lower bound ofmedium-term downtrend (1.345), currently trying to extend its short-termuptrend, with the help of which buyers intend to gain a foothold above 1.36:

As part of the current short-term uptrend, there is achance to make a short movement to the upper border of the channel with apotential spike to 1.37 area. Positive expectations for the upcoming meeting ofthe Central Bank should contribute to this.

From a technical point of view, this can also befacilitated by the movement of the dollar to the lower border of the currentpattern - a triangle:

Nevertheless, the figure in the dollar indicates highchances of an upside breakout, so one should closely monitor the prospect ofthe dollar moving above the previous resistance zone - 94.50. From the steepslope of the lower bound of the pattern, we can see some solid bullish pressureof USD buyers which supports the outlook for trend resumption.