GBPUSD Technical Analysis – The bearish bias remains intact

<p>US:</p><ul><li>The Fed <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/the-fomc-keeps-the-target-fed-funds-range-at-525-to-550-20230920/">left interest rates unchanged</a> as expected at the last meeting.</li><li>The macroeconomic projections were revised higher,
and the Dot Plot showed that the FOMC still expects another rate hike by the
end of the year with less rate cuts projected in 2024.</li><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/highlights-from-the-fed-chair-powells-press-conference-after-september-rate-decision-20230920/">Fed Chair Powell</a> reaffirmed their data dependency but added that
they will proceed carefully. </li><li>The <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-september-cpi-37-yy-versus-36-yy-expected-20231012/">US CPI</a> last week beat expectations on the
headline figures, but the core measures came in line with forecasts and the
market’s pricing barely changed. </li><li>The <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-august-non-farm-payrolls-187k-vs-170k-expected-20230901/">labour market</a> remains fairly solid as seen once again last week
with the beat in <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-initial-jobs-claims-209k-versus-210k-estimate-20231012/">Jobless Claims</a>, although continuing claims surprisingly missed. </li><li>The US PMIs
recently showed that the US economy remains pretty resilient. </li><li>The <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-october-prelim-umich-consumer-sentiment-630-vs-672-expected-20231013/">University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment</a> report last Friday missed across the
board with the inflation expectations figures spiking back up.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-september-retail-sales-07-versus-03-expected-20231017/">US Retail Sales</a> this week beat expectations by a big
margin with positive revisions to the prior figures.</li><li>The Fed members continue to cite elevated long-term
yields as a reason to proceed carefully and will likely pause in November as
well.</li><li>The market doesn’t expect the Fed to hike anymore.</li></ul><p>UK:</p><ul><li>The BoE <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/boe-leaves-bank-rate-unchanged-at-525-vs-550-expected-20230921/">kept interest rates unchanged</a> at the last meeting. </li><li>The central bank is leaning more
towards keeping interest rates “higher for longer”, although it kept a door
open for further tightening if inflationary pressures were to be more
persistent. </li><li>The latest <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/uk-august-payrolls-change-0k-vs-97k-prior-20230912/">employment report</a> showed a slowdown in wage growth
and some job losses in September which could point to a softening labour
market. </li><li>The <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/uk-september-cpi-67-vs-66-yy-expected-20231018/">UK CPI</a> yesterday slightly beat expectations but given
the softening in the labour market it’s unlikely to change the BoE’s stance. </li><li>The latest <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/uk-september-final-services-pmi-493-vs-472-prelim-20231004/">UK PMIs</a> showed further contraction, especially in the
Services sector.</li><li>The market doesn’t expect the BoE to
hike anymore.</li></ul><p>GBPUSD Technical Analysis –
Daily Timeframe</p><p>On the daily chart, we can see that the GBPUSD pair
rejected the key <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/Education/technical-analysis-support-and-resistance-20220405/">resistance</a> around
the 1.2310 level where we had also the 38.2% <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/Education/technical-analysis-using-fibonacci-retracements-20220421/">Fibonacci retracement</a> level
and the <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/Education/technical-analysis-trendlines-20220406/">trendline</a> for <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/Education/technical-analysis-confluence-20220318/">confluence</a>. The
slight beat in the UK CPI hasn’t led to a rally in the pound as the market
doesn’t see it as game-changing. The bearish bias remains intact as the UK
labour market is starting to weaken while the US jobs data continues to
surprise to the upside. </p><p>GBPUSD Technical Analysis –
4 hour Timeframe</p><p>On the 4 hour chart, we can see that the pair broke
out of the range between the 1.2120 support and the 1.2220 resistance. This
remains a sellers’ market, so the buyers should wait for some key upside
breakout. The sellers, on the other hand, should step in at every pullback and
target a break below the previous lows. </p><p>GBPUSD Technical Analysis –
1 hour Timeframe</p><p>On the 1 hour chart, we can see more
closely the recent breakout with the price rejecting the red 21 <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/Education/technical-analysis-understanding-moving-averages-20220425/">moving average</a> before
making new lows. The bearish momentum looks to be strong but the sellers will
have a much better risk to reward setup if the price pulls back into the broken
support turned resistance where we can find the trendline and the red 21 moving
average for confluence. The buyers, on the other hand, will want to see the
price breaking above the trendline and the resistance to invalidate the bearish
setup and start targeting the resistance around the 1.2220 level. </p><p>Upcoming Events</p><p><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/EconomicCalendar">Today</a> we will get the latest US Jobless Claims
report and the market will want to see if the miss in Continuing Claims last
week was just a blip or the start of a trend. Later in the day, we will also
hear from Fed Chair Powell where the market will be focused on any hint about
the near-term policy outlook. Tomorrow, we will also see the latest UK Retail
Sales data. </p>

This article was written by FL Contributors at www.forexlive.com.