GBP/USD extends bullish rebound, continuation faces fresh technical challenge

• GBP/USD gained ground for a second day, climbing into the 1.3450 region.
• UK data mixed-to-positive, but US data might as well not exist.
• Fed rate cut expectations dominate market flows.

GBP/USD stepped into a second straight winning session on Thursday, around three-tenths of one percent and bringing Cable's two-day recovery to a little over one percent, bottom-to-top. UK data came in more or less above expectations, bolstering the Pound Sterling (GBP) as it extends a technical rebound from the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near 1.3270.

Cable is now facing a fresh technical ceiling near the 50-day EMA at 1.3450, but momentum remains in favor of GBP bulls as US data remains a limited affair.

Market-driving data evaporates, headline chasing in its place

There is little of note on both sides of Friday's data docket, with the UK data pool now empty and the US side dark amid the ongoing government shutdown, which has caused the release of official datapoints to dwindle down to functionally nothing.

However, the silver lining for markets is that the Federal Reserve (Fed), lacking a consistent flow of inflation-sensitive data, has little else to do but hold steady on its current pace of interest rate cuts. Rate markets have fully priced in two more rate cuts before the end of the calendar year, with another rate cut expected next March.

GBP/USD daily chart