GBP/USD has slid below the key $1.40 level on Tuesday amid the renewed interest in the US dollar among investors, although the cautious mood ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s congressional testimony has helped it recover from the two-month low reached in the previous session. At the time of writing, GBP/USD is trading at around $1.389.

The FOMC statement released last week dealt an unexpected surprise to investors when it revealed a rising interest among policymakers to begin reversing its dovish stance sooner than expected. This helped boost the US dollar after several weeks of weakness, and weighed on the GBP/USD currency pair.

During Monday’s trading session, the Cable slid to the lowest levels seen since two months, touching $1.37865 in the early hours but reversing some of its losses since then. However, Tuesday started on a bearish note for GBP/USD, driving it back down under $1.40 after speculators raised their net long positions on GBP during the past week.

Losses in the currency pair, however, remain limited over cautious optimism that the UK economy could reopen as planned on July 19. Earlier in the day, Britain’s Health Minister Matt Hancock expressed hope on keeping the schedule unchanged despite the rising number of cases from the Delta variant as the death toll remained in check.