The GBP/USD currency pair on Friday extended the current 2-day declines below 1.3475 before recovering later to 1.3508. The currency pair is now back within the ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart.

The latest pullback found support at the 100-hour SMA. The 200-hour SMA is a few levels below. The currency pair remains very close to oversold levels of the 14-hour RSI after falling later in the week.

GBP/USD Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the GBP/USD currency pair is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in both markets. Earlier in the week, the UK claimant count change for November missed the expected count of 50k with a count of 64.3k. The ILO unemployment rate for the 3-month period ending through October beat the expectation of 5.1% with 4.9%. Average earnings including and excluding bonuses for the period also outperformed expectations. 

On Wednesday, the UK CPI for November missed the (YoY) expectation of 0.6% with a change of 0.3%. The Markit Services PMI missed 50.5 with 49.9. On Thursday, the BoE voted to keep the base interest rate unchanged at 0.1%. On Friday, the UK retail sales missed the (YoY) estimate but beat the (MoM) expectation. Retail sales ex-fuel also beat on a (YoY) and (MoM) basis.

In the US, the retail sales control group for November missed the expected change of 0.2% with a  change of -0.5%. General retail sales for the period missed the expected (MoM) change of -0.3% with a change of -1.1%.

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

Technically, the GBP/USD currency pair appears to be trading within a gently ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. This indicates a significant short-term bullish bias in the market sentiment. 

The bulls will be looking to extend the current bull-run by targeting profits at around 1.3554 or higher at 1.3598. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce for short-term profits at around 1.3455 or lower at 1.3400.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the GBP/USD currency pair appears to be trading within a sharply ascending channel. This indicates a strong long-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.

The bulls will look to extend the current gains towards 1.3631 or higher to 1.3839. On the other hand, the bears will target long-term pullbacks at around 1.3379 or lower at 1.3191.