GBP/USD eases from weekly tops, still positive around mid-1.3000s post-US macro data

The GBP/USD pair trimmed a part of its early gains to weekly tops, albeit has still managed to hold in the positive territory, around mid-1.3000s post-US macro data.

The US dollar remained on the defensive and failed to attract any meaningful buying interest following the release of mixed US monthly retail sales figures for December. The headline sales recorded a growth of 0.3%, matching consensus estimates and the previous month's reading.

Meanwhile, sales excluding automobiles (core retail sales) rose by 0.7% during the reported month as against 0.5% expected and the closely watched Retail Sales Control Group also bettered consensus estimates and increased by 0.5% in December.

However, the positive prints, to a larger extent, were negated by a downward revision of the previous month's readings. In fact, core retail sales were flat for November (0.1% growth estimated earlier) and Retail Sales Control Group declined by 0.1% vs a modest 0.1% growth reported previously.

Other data released from the US showed the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index jumped to 17 points for January as compared to the previous month's reading of 0.3% and much better-than a rebound to 3.8 points anticipated by the market participants.

Adding to this, the US initial weekly jobless claims also bettered consensus estimates and unexpectedly fell to 204K during the week ended January 10 as compared to a modest uptick to 216K expected from 214K reported last week.

The data did provide a modest lift to the greenback and kept a lid on any subsequent positive move for the major. This coupled with concerns about a no-deal Brexit and BoE rate cut speculations further held investors from placing any bullish bets/kept a lid on the attempted positive move.

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