GBP/USD skids from 1.3630 as investors shift to defensives amid the geopolitical tensions

• GBP/USD tumbles to 1.3614 after investors prefer defensives over risk-sensitive forex.
• The rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine have kept the market on its toes.
• The DXY has been capped after a poor show from the US Initial Jobless Claims.

The GBP/USD pair has attracted some offers in the US session around 1.3630, as the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine renew after the shelling between Ukraine armed forces and pro-Moscow rebels across a ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine.

After the ceasefire, US President Joe Biden mentioned that there were some signifiers that Vladimir Putin’s area was conspiring of invasion to Ukraine in the next few days along with a pretext for the same.

Russia accused Biden of stoking tensions and released a strongly worded letter saying Washington was ignoring its security demands and threatening unspecified "military-technical measures", as per Reuters.

This has renewed the risk-aversion theme in the market as investors are cautious over escalating geopolitical tensions, which has raised the appeal for safe-haven assets.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index (DXY) is juggling in a narrow range of 95.70-95.88 since the start of the New York session. It would be justified to state that rising Initial Jobless Claims in the US has capped the DXY. The US Department of Labor has reported that the Initial Jobless Claims land at 248k, higher than the previous print of 225k and market estimates of 219k, which could dictate a less hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve (Fed) in the March’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

For further guidance, speech from the Cleveland Fed’s Mester on Thursday and British Retail Sales data from the Office for National Statistics on Friday will remain in focus while the headlines from the Russia-Ukraine tussle will remain the major driver.