On Thursday, the GBP/USD currency pair bounced from the session lows of about 1.3597 to trade at about 1.3634. The currency pair trades within an ascending channel formation on the 60-minute chart.

The pair continues to trade several levels above the 100-hour moving average line, despite making a late pullback. Thursday’s pullback helped the currency pair recover from the overbought levels of the 14-hour RSI.

GBP/USD Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the GBP/USD currency pair trades during a relatively busy period in both markets. On Thursday, the US initial jobless claims for last week outperformed the expectation of 210k, with a claim count of 206k, down from the previous week’s equivalent of 212k. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing Survey for August also came in better than expected, at 47.4 versus a forecast of 25, up from the preceding month’s equivalent of 41.4.

Earlier in the week, US building permits for July beat the expectation of 1.37 million, with 1.443 million, while housing starts fell short of 1.35 million, with 1.239 million. On the other hand, the industrial production of the month missed the expectation of 0.3%, with a change of 0.2% (MoM), while pending home sales fell short of 0.3%, with a change of -2.3% (MoM). 

In the UK, the consumer price index for July matched the forecasted (MoM) and (YoY) forecasts of 0.3% and 2.9%. The core CPI for the month exceeded the expectation of 2.5%, with a change of 2.6%. Earlier in the week, the UK claimant count change improved to -11k, up from -6.4k, beating the forecasted claimant count of 11.2k. On the other hand, the unemployment rate for the month remained unchanged at 4.9%, missing the forecasted rate of 4.8%.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the GBP/USD currency pair trades within an ascending channel formation on the 60-minute chart. However, the 14-hour RSI has recently pulled back to recover from overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bears will look to stretch the current pullback towards 1.3597 or lower to 1.3554. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on profits at about 1.3672 or higher at 1.3714.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the GBP/USD currency pair also trades within an ascending channel formation. The 14-day RSI also supports a long-term bullish bias as it edges closer to overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bulls will look to ride the current run of gains toward 1.3842 or higher to 1.4052. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on pullbacks at about 1.3422, or lower at 1.3204.