The GBP/USD pair extended its sideways consolidative price action and held near the lower end of its daily trading range through the early North-American session. The pair failed to capitalize on its intraday uptick, rather met with some fresh supply near the 1.3420-25 region and was further weighed down by the disappointing releases of the flash version of the UK PMI prints for December. According to a survey published this Monday, both the services and manufacturing sectors suffered their worst downturn since mid-2016 and suggested that the economy is on course to contract in the fourth quarter of 2019.