GBPUSD: Sterling Crashes as UK Brexit Minister Resigns

The pound lost some 200 pips on Thursday and the GBPUSD pair was trading down 1.50% during the London session as traders aggressively sold sterling after the UK Brexit minister Dominic Raab's resignation. The Cable decline back below the 1.30 level and was trading at 1.2870 during afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the UK retail sales slumped again and the year-on-year gauge slowed to 2.2% from 3.3% in September. Moreover, the core indicator also decelerated notably from 3.6% to 2.7%. Weaker data also undermined the pound.

On the other hand, the US retail sales improved notably on the monthly basis and posted a 0.8% growth, up from -0.1% previously, while the ex autos gauge surged to 0.7% from -0.1%. The greenback strengthened slightly after these numbers.

Finally, the Fed's chair Jerome Powell is due to speak about Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts at an event hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in Houston.

Cable is quickly dropping toward the key support of previous lows near 1.27 and if taken out, the long-term downtrend would be confirmed. On the upside, the first intraday resistance is seen at 1.2920 and while it trades below, the outlook seems bearish.

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