Investing.com - The pound slipped lower against the dollar on Monday as the dollar regained some of the ground lost on Friday when data showed that the U.S. economy added the fewest jobs in three years in December.
GBP/USD hit session lows of 1.6420 and was last down 0.24% to 1.6442.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6379, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.6515, Friday’s high.
Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report showed that the U.S. economy added 74,000 jobs in December, the smallest increase since January 2011 and well below expectations for 196,000 new jobs.
The unemployment rate fell to a five year low of 6.7% from 7% in November, but this was due in part to people dropping out of the labor force.
The surprisingly weak data saw investors reassess expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut its stimulus program again this month. The Fed cited a stronger labor market in its decision to cut its asset purchase program by USD10 billion in December, reducing it to USD75 billion-a-month.
Sterling remained under pressure after data on Friday showed that U.K. manufacturing and industrial production were both flat from a month earlier in November, defying expectations for a 0.4% increase in each case.
The data sparked concerns that the rate of the economic growth in the U.K. may have slowed in the fourth quarter, after expanding by 0.8% in the three months to September.
Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.23% to 0.8312.
