British Pound extends 4-day slide as Fed decision, UK budget loom

The Pound Sterling dives for the fourth straight day against the US Dollar, down 0.14% as the Greenback registers mild gains ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday. GBP/USD trades at 1.3321 and remains capped within the 1.3307-1.3349 range on Tuesday.

GBP/USD struggles near 1.3300 as resilient US data supports the Dollar ahead of crucial policy decisions

Market sentiment is positive, even though hostilities in the Middle East continued. News revealed that debris is falling over Saudi Arabia´s Riyadh, which, according to SPA, caused damage. Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei reiterated the country’s conditions for ending the war with the US. Tehran has called for the lift of the US naval blockade and also the removal of sanctions as preconditions for peace talks.

In the US, the economic docket featured housing data, with New Home Sales diving -0.6% MoM in September, down from August’s 6.4% print.

The Conference Board (CB) reported that Consumer Sentiment unexpectedly rose in October, from 84.2 to 91.7 as households grew optimistic about the job market and business conditions. Digging into the survey, inflation expectations for 12 months remained unchanged at 5.8%, well above the Fed’s target.

Other data showed that Durable Goods Orders jumped in September by 1.6%, up from 0.1%, as business spending remains robust amid the build-out of AI infrastructure. Earlier, the ADP Employment Change 4-week average showed that the labour market is modestly slowing down; it came in at 16.8K, down from the previous print of 18.5K.

Meanwhile, money markets indicate the Fed will hold rates unchanged on Wednesday, with odds of a hike at 19%. For December, the chances continued to aim lower, from around 90% last week to 82%, according to Prime Terminal.

In the UK, Sterling advances against the Euro, which is dealing with France’s fiscal issues, but falls against the Greenback.

Focus is on the release of the UK Autumn Budget, in which Chancellor Healey is expected to present a sustainable budget that doesn’t distress the bond market and fulfils some promises of Andy Burnham’s government. According to the Financial Times, John Healey is poised to announce an increase of 4% for low-wage workers.

Ahead, traders brace for the Fed’s meeting on Wednesday. The UK economic docket will feature the UK’s budget.

GBP/USD Price Forecast: Technical outlook

In the daily chart, GBP/USD trades at 1.3314, keeping a bearish near-term tone as it holds beneath the latest simple moving average cluster around 1.3396 and the descending resistance trend line that now comes in near the same area. The pair has slipped away from former trend-line resistance turned support at 1.3257, but price remains only modestly above that level, hinting that sellers still control the broader structure, while the 14-period Relative Strength Index around 48 suggests momentum has cooled back toward neutral rather than driving a strong recovery.

On the topside, initial resistance is seen at the 1.3396 area, where the 50-, 100- and 200-day simple moving averages converge, with further barriers at the upward-sloping trend supports now acting as resistance near 1.3644 and 1.3823. On the downside, the first noteworthy underpinning sits at the broken trend-line level around 1.3257, and a daily close below that floor would likely open the door to a deeper pullback as the pair extends its rejection from the heavy resistance band overhead.