British Pound hits fresh two-month lows sub-1.3220 as BoE stands pat on rates
The British Pound (GBP) remains on the defensive against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday, with the GBP/USD pair hitting fresh two-month lows near 1.3200, following the Bank of England’s (BoE) decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
No surprises at June’s BoE monetary policy meeting. The Bank Rate remains steady at 3.75% as widely expected, with two policymakers calling for a rate hike, as Swati Dhingra joined Huw Pill on the hawkish side. The bank also cut inflation forecasts for this year and upgraded underlying growth compared to April’s estimates. Read more…
GBP/USD awaits Bank of England meeting near April lows
The pound sterling barely reacted on Wednesday to weaker-than-expected UK inflation data. Investors preferred to take a wait-and-see approach ahead of today’s labour market statistics and the Bank of England meeting. However, GBP still had to respond to movements in the US dollar following the Federal Reserve meeting.
Inflation in May remained at 2.8% y/y, while the market had expected it to accelerate to 3.0%. The weaker-than-forecast data revived the debate over whether the Bank of England will need to raise interest rates at all this year. Read more…
British Pound remains on the defensive as investors await BoE’s decision
The British Pound (GBP) trims losses against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday, but remains near the two-month low hit on Wednesday. The upbeat UK employment figures have failed to boost the Pound’s recovery, as investors are reluctant to place large GBP long positions ahead of the Bank of England monetary policy decision, due later in the day.
The UK Unemployment Rate declined unexpectedly to 4.9% in the three months to April, down from 5% in the previous period, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday. Net employment increased by 100K in the mentioned period, down from the previous 148K increase, but above the 80K consensus. Read more…
