GBP/USD sticks to gains near daily peak, comfortably above mid-1.2400s post-US data

• GBP/USD regains positive traction on Wednesday amid the emergence of fresh USD selling.
• A slight improvement in the global risk sentiment is seen weighing on the safe-haven buck.
• The upbeat US Durable Goods Orders fail to impress the USD bulls or provide any impetus.

The GBP/USD pair sticks to its strong intraday gains, around the 1.2465-1.2470 area through the early North American session and moves little in reaction to the US macro data.

The US Census Bureau reported this Wednesday that Durable Goods Orders in the US smashed market expectations by a big margin and increased by 3.2% in March. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.3% during the reported month as against consensus estimates pointing to a 0.2% fall and the 0.3% decline registered in March. The upbeat data, however, fails to impress the US Dollar (USD) bulls or provide any meaningful impetus to the GBP/USD pair.

Meanwhile, a slight improvement in the global risk sentiment - as depicted by a modest uptick in the US equity futures - is seen weighing on the safe-haven Greenback amid speculations for an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) later this year. Apart from this, rising bets for another 25 bps interest rate hike by the Bank of England (BoE) in May continue to underpin the British Pound and remains supportive of the strong bid tone surrounding the GBP/USD pair.

That said, a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields might hold back bearish traders from placing aggressive bets around the USD and keep a lid on any further gains for the major, at least for the time being. Investors also seem reluctant and could move to the sidelines ahead of the US Q1 GDP report on Thursday. This will be followed by the release of the US Core PCE Price Index - the Fed preferred inflation gauge on Friday.

The data will play a key role in influencing the near-term USD price dynamics and should provide some meaningful impetus to the GBP/USD pair. Nevertheless, the intraday positive move assists spot prices to reverse a major part of the previous day's retracement slide from over a one-week high - levels just above the 1.2500 psychological mark - and is exclusively sponsored by the prevalent USD selling bias.

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