GBP/USD struggles near session lows, around 1.3800 mark post-US data

The GBP/USD pair maintained its offered tone through the early North American session and was last seen hovering near daily lows, just above the 1.3800 mark post-US macro data.

The pair struggled to capitalize on the previous day's goodish rebound from weekly lows and met with some fresh supply on Thursday amid resurgent US dollar demand. Despite signs of easing inflationary pressure in the US, expectations for an imminent Fed taper announcement later this year continued acting as a tailwind for the greenback.

Apart from this, a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields, along with worries about the fast-spreading Delta variant and a global economic slowdown, further underpinned the safe-haven USD. On the economic data front, the US Retail Sales and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index smashed expectations and remained supportive of the bid tone surrounding the buck.

In fact, the headline sales unexpectedly grew 0.7% in August, while sales excluding autos rose 1.8% during the reported month. Separately, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index jumped to 30.7 for the current month from 19.4 reported in August. This, to a larger extent, helped offset a slight disappointment from the US Initial Jobless Claims.

Meanwhile, the GBP/USD pair, so far, has managed to defend the 1.3800 round-figure mark. This coincides with 200-period SMA on the 4-hour chart and should now act as a key pivotal point. Some follow-through selling, leading to a subsequent break below short-term ascending channel support should pave the way for a further depreciating move.

Technical levels to watch