GBP/USD grinding lower to 1.29 neighborhood ahead of Fedspeaks

Having failed to sustain / build on to its move above mid-1.2900s, the GBP/USD pair came under some selling pressure and extended previous session's retracement from fresh yearly tops. 

Spot has now moved within striking distance of the 1.2900 handle despite of the upbeat BRC Like-for-like Sales data for April 2017, with persistent US Dollar buying interest acting as an exclusive driver of the pair's downslide for the second consecutive session. 

Market now seems to have started pricing-in an eventual Fed rate-hike action at its June meeting and a strong US treasury bond yields performance has been a key factor supporting the prevalent bullish sentiment surrounding the greenback. 

Moving ahead, a relatively lighter US economic docket, featuring the release of JOLTS job opening data, would be looked upon for some trading impetus ahead of speeches by couple of FOMC members - Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Dallas Fed President Robert Steven Kaplan.

   •  GBP/USD sticks to the neutral stance – UOB

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes, "the 4 hours chart shows that the price is extending below a flat 20 SMA, whilst technical indicators are entering negative territory, supporting a new leg lower on a break below 1.2900, Friday's low and the immediate support. The next bearish target comes then at 1.2865, en route to 1.2830."

"The daily high was set at 1.2960, with a recovery above it favoring another approach to the 1.3000 threshold, although a break above this last seems quite unlikely for this Tuesday" she added.