GBP/USD: Bears jump in again as bulls fail to get over the gain line

• GBP/USD bears are fending off the bulls at the gain line.
• Ukraine crisis is denting risk appetite and weighing on the pound. 

GBP/USD is back into the red on Monday as the US session remains in risk-off mode. At 1.3404, the price is down 0.04% after travelling between a low of 1.3307 and a high of 1.3431. Sterling declined on Monday after Western nations imposed tough new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Western allies moved over the weekend to block the access of certain Russian banks to the SWIFT international payments system. It has also announced plans to implement restrictions on the Russian central bank’s international reserves which are expected to be in the tune of 600 billion US dollars. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin may have been planning to use Central Bank assets to mitigate the impact of sanctions. The sanctions also target Russia's National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance.

In retaliation to the harsh new sanctions, Putin ordered his military general Sergei Shoigu to put their nuclear force on high alert. Russia has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and a huge cache of ballistic missiles. The United States, the world's second-largest nuclear power, slammed Putin's order as "totally unacceptable." Germany said Putin's nuclear order was because his offensive had "halted" and was not going to plan.

Meanwhile, delegations from Russia and Ukraine on Monday held their first round of peace talks in Belarus. After talks ended, reports emerged that both sides will return to their respective capitals for further consultations before the second round of talks. "The delegations are returning to their capitals for consultations and have discussed the possibility of meeting for the second round of negotiations soon," Ukrainian negotiator Mikhailo Podolyak was quoted as saying by AFP.

In other updates,  Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has signed an application for his country to join the European Union (EU). The question is how fast Ukraine might be able to fast track into NATO.

As for domestic drivers, the Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders is scheduled to give a speech at the University of East Anglia on Tuesday. Tenryro, and Cunliffe are all due to speak. Money markets are currently pricing in 25 basis point rate increase from the BoE in March.