GBP/USD continues to slide, as the pair has lost ground in the Thursday session. In North American trade, the pair is trading at 1.2814, down 0.53% on the day. There are no British indicators on the schedule. In the U.S, durable goods reports were mixed, and unemployment claims moved higher. On Friday, the U.S releases two key indicators – Advance GDP and UoM Consumer Sentiment.
U.S durable goods reports for September were mixed. Core durable goods orders came in at 0.1% for a second straight month, missing the estimate of 0.5%. Durable goods orders dropped from 4.5% to 0.8%, but this was much better than the forecast of -1.3%. Unemployment claims rose to 215 thousand, a shade above the forecast of 214 thousand. Despite these tepid numbers, the U.S dollar is broadly higher on Thursday, and the struggling pound has fallen to its lowest level since the first week of September.
The safe-haven U.S dollar has attracted nervous investors, due to increasing geopolitical tensions. These include the U.S-China trade war, the uproar over the killing of a Saudi journalist in Turkey and tense relations between Moscow and Washington. There are headaches in Europe as well, with concerns over the Italian budget and the Brexit negotiations. The Brexit talks remain at an impasse, despite Prime Minister May declaring in Parliament earlier this week that the 95% of the issues between the EU and the UK have been resolved. Britain departs the EU at the end of March, and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit is likely to continue to weigh on the pound.
