The GBP/USD currency pair on Thursday pulled back off the session highs of about 1.2225 to trade at about 1.2181 following the latest round of US data. The currency pair continues to trade within a sharply ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. 

The pair seems to be trading slightly below the 100-hour moving average line following the pullback. The pullback also prevented the pair from advancing deep into the overbought levels of the 14-hour.

GBP/USD Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the GBP/USD is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in the US market. On Thursday, the annualised US gross domestic product for Q2 matched the expected change of 2.1%. On the other hand, the gross domestic price index for the period missed the estimated change of 2% with a change of 1.7%.

The personal consumption expenditure prices for Q2 matched the forecasted (QoQ) forecast of 2.5%. The core personal consumption expenditures rate for the period was also in line with the estimate of 3.7%.

Elsewhere, the initial jobless claims for the week ending September 22 beat the estimated claim count of 215k with a tally of 204k. The continuing claims also outshone the forecast of 1.675 million with a tally of 1.67 million. Traders will be looking forward to the UK gross domestic product data for Q2 on Friday, with analysts expecting figures to remain unchanged from the previous update.

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

Technically, the GBP/USD currency pair appears to be trading within a sharply ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. The hourly MACD also seems to support a bull case after completing an upward crossover.

Therefore, the bulls will be targeting extended gains at about 1.2211 or higher at 1.2246. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on profits at about 1.2144 or lower at 1.2111.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the GBP/USD currency pair appears to be trading within a descending channel formation. The daily MACD also seems to support a bearish case after completing a downward crossover in late July.

Therefore, the bears will be looking to extend the current run of declines toward 1.1987 or lower to 1.1804. On the other hand, the bulls will be targeting long-term profits at about 1.2375 or higher at 1.2563.