GBP/USD slides to 4-week low on US dollar strength, eyes 1.3600

The British pound is down 0.59% at 1.3672. Earlier in the American session, the GBP/USD reached a new 4-week low at 1.3652 but retraced the move to around 1.3660. 

A scarce UK’s economic calendar and Federal Reserve taper talks news are weighing on the pair. Adding to this, the US labor market gives signs of improving. The number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the last week slashed 29,000 week-over-week to stand at 348,000, lower than market expectations of 363,000.

Regardings US dollar strength, the US dollar index trades around 93.40 for a 0.25%, thus reinforcing news of recent dollar strength towards the end of the week.

In the calendar’s ahead, in the UK docket is the GfK consumer confidence for the month of August foreseen at -8 due at 18:01 GMT, followed by the Retail Sales YoY and MoM, expected at 6% and 0.4%, respectively. In the US dockets, remains empty going towards the weekend.

GBP/USD technical outlook

The cable is at 1.3675. The moving averages are above 1.3780, with the 200-day moving average, below the 100 and the 50-daily moving averages. The volatility in the pair surpassed the Average True Range readings and could be near reaching its bottom. For the pair to continue downwards will need a break of 1.3650, followed by 1.3600, and July 20 low at 1.3571.

RSI is 36.62 headed towards oversold levels while the Average True Range is steady at 74 pips.