GBP/USD consolidates below 1.3700 amid steady USD, Brexit jitters

• GBP/USD manages to hold the previous session’s momentum on Friday.
• US Dollar Index whipsaws around 94.00 ahead of US Retail Sales data.
• Mixed play amid Brexit concerns and dovish BOE official limits the upside for the British pound.

The GBP/USD pair consolidates gains in the Asian trading hours. The pair retreated after touching 1.3700 since September 28 in Thursday's US session. At the time of writing, GBP/USD is trading at 1.3678, up 0.04% for the day.

Investors digested higher inflation data and a drop in the US Initial Jobless Claims. The readings confirmed Fed’s stance on tapering as soon as mid-November. The US Producer Price Index (PPI) came at 0.5% in September YoY basis. The Initial Jobless Claims fell 295K, much below the market estimates of 319K.

On the other hand, the British pound gains despite the dovish comments from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Silvana Tenreyo. She shrugged off the current rout in the UK inflation levels as being temporary and urged not to hike interest rates.

In addition to that, the European Union (EU) threatened to escalate the Brexit clash if the UK quits the Northern Ireland deal. Nevertheless, the sterling gains on improved risk sentiment. It is worth noting that, S&P 500 Futures are trading at 4,453, up 0.34% on the day

As for now, traders keep their focus on the US Retail Sales data and Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index to gauge market sentiment.

GBP/USD technical levels