GBP/USD retreats from weekly tops, fails ahead of 1.30 mark

The GBP/USD pair maintained its bid tone through the early North-American session and refreshed daily tops, around the 1.2990 region in the last hour, albeit quickly retreated few pips thereafter.

The pair built on this week's recovery move from 2-1/2 month lows and gained some follow-through traction for the third consecutive session on Wednesday. In absence of any negative Brexit-related headlines, the British pound remained well supported by Tuesday's slightly better-than-expected monthly UK GDP print and a modest rebound in the UK industrial/manufacturing production figures.

Brexit-related tensions might cap the upside

On the other hand, the US dollar consolidated its recent strong gains to multi-month tops and was seen oscillating in a narrow trading band around mid-98.00s. A strong pickup in the US Treasury bond yields failed to inspire the USD bulls, which remained supportive of the pair's intraday positive momentum back closer to the key 1.30 psychological mark.

However, market concerns that Britain might crash out of the European Union at the end of the transition period later this year held investors from placing any aggressive bullish bets. This eventually turned out to be one of the key factors that keep a lid on any strong follow-through positive move for the major, rather led to a modest pullback of around 25-30 pips from daily tops.

There isn't any major market-moving economic data due for release on Wednesday. Hence, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's second day of testimony, this time before the Senate Housing Committee, might influence the USD price dynamics and produce some meaningful trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch