GBPUSD Technical Analysis - Rangebound price action with a bearish bias

USDThe Fed left interest rates unchanged as expected while dropping the tightening bias in the statement but adding a slight pushback against a March rate cut.Fed Chair Powell stressed that they want to see more evidence of inflation falling back to target and that a rate cut in March is not their base case. The US CPI beat expectations for the second consecutive month with the disinflationary trend reversing. The US PPI beat expectations across the board by a big margin.The US Initial Claims beat expectations while Continuing Claims missed. Overall, the data remains steady. The ISM Manufacturing PMI surprised to the upside with the new orders index, which is considered a leading indicator, jumping back into expansion. Similarly, the ISM Services PMI beat expectations across the board with the employment sub-index erasing the prior drop and prices paid jumping above 60. The US Retail Sales missed expectations across the board by a big margin.The market now expects the first rate cut in June. GBPThe BoE left interest rates unchanged as expected at the last meeting removing the tightening bias but reaffirming that they will keep rates high for sufficiently long to return to the 2% target. The employment report beat expectations across the board with a positive revision to the December’s negative payroll figure.The UK CPI missed expectations across the board but with Services inflation remaining sticky, which continues to support the BoE’s patient stance.The latest UK PMIs showed the Manufacturing sector improving but remaining in contraction while the Services sector continues to expand. The latest UK Retail Sales beat expectations across the board by a big margin.The market expects the first rate cut in June.GBPUSD Technical Analysis – Daily TimeframeOn the daily chart, we can see that GBPUSD continues to range as the monetary policy divergence between the Fed and the BoE remains slim. Nevertheless, the US economic outperformance should keep the USD stronger versus its peers. We can see that the moving averages are now pointing downwards, which is generally a sign of a change in trend. The pair will need to break the support zone though to confirm the new bearish trend. GBPUSD Technical Analysis – 4 hour TimeframeOn the 4 hour chart, we can see that the price action has been very messy lately with no clear support or resistance level. Nonetheless, the sellers might want to lean on the recent resistance at 1.2612 where we can also find the black trendline for confluence. The buyers, on the other hand, will want to see the price breaking higher to start targeting the high at 1.2685.GBPUSD Technical Analysis – 1 hour TimeframeOn the 1 hour chart, we can see that we have an important zone around the 1.2580 level where the price reacted from several times. We can expect the buyers to step in again around this zone with a defined risk below it to position for a breakout above the trendline. The sellers, on the other hand, will want to see the price breaking lower to start targeting the key 1.25 support and eventually a break below it. Upcoming EventsThis week is basically empty on the data front with just the release of the FOMC Meeting Minutes tomorrow followed by the UK and the US PMIs, and the US Jobless Claims on Thursday. This article was written by FL Contributors at www.forexlive.com.