GBP/USD falls below 1.24 even as US trade deficit balloons in December

The dollar was advancing further this afternoon leading into the release of the US December wholesale inventories and trade balance reports. That had seen the GBP/USD fall below the 1.24 handle for the first time this week, as the EUR/USD hit fresh session lows underneath 1.0385. US inventories were down -0.5% which was below the previous 0.2% decline. The trade balance widened to $122 billion in December, which was a considerable deterioration over the $103.5 billion seen the month before. The thing is folks, it seems these US deficits are just so large these days, that the markets just absorb the data ,as if it did not matter. That sure looks like the case the afternoon. The GBP/USD is currently trading at 1.2396