GBP/USD flirts with April swing lows, around 1.2165-70 region
- GBP/USD remained under some selling pressure for the fourth straight session on Thursday.
- The USD regained traction after Trump’s comments and added to the intraday selling bias.
- Higher-than-expected US weekly jobless claims did little to lend any support to the major.
The GBP/USD pair maintained its offered tone through the early North American session and dropped to fresh five-week lows, around the 1.2165 region.
The pair extended its rejection slide from the very important 200-day SMA and remained depressed for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday. The attempted intraday recovery quickly ran out of the steam near the 1.2230 region amid a sudden pickup in the US dollar.
Following a brief consolidation through the major part of Thursday's trading action, the greenback gained some traction after the US President Donald Trump advocated a stronger dollar and said that it would help the economy during the recovery post coronavirus crisis.
This comes after the Fed Chair Jerome Powell rejected the idea of negative interest rates on Wednesday and in turn, provided a goodish lift to the USD. On the economic data front, the US Initial Weekly Jobless Claims came in at 2.98 million as compared to 2.5 million expected.
The data, however, was overshadowed by concerns about the second wave of coronavirus infections and fading hopes for a quick economic recovery. This, in turn, weighed on investors' sentiment and benefitted the greenback's relative safe-haven status against its British counterpart.
Thursday's downfall could also be attributed to some technical selling, especially after the pair confirmed a bearish break through the double-top neckline support. A subsequent slide below April lows, around the 1.2165 area, should now pave the way for further weakness.
Technical levels to watch