Ahead of the Bank of England Policy meeting, Sterling had come under some pressure and, as a result, was lower versus its European counterpart and the US Dollar. The BoE's Monetary policy Committee is expected to announce changes to its asset purchasing program, also known as quantitative easing, with some analysts expecting to see an increase of £100 billion. In March, the central bank had allocated £200 billion for the program and much of that has already been spent, primarily related to the UK government's borrowing for Covid-19 purposes. Most analysts have dismissed the prospect of a below zero rate environment, at least for the time being, though Andrew Bailey, the BoE Governor, has left that possibility on the table.
In London trading as of 11:27 am, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.2480, down 0.568% and off the session low of $1.24775/ The EUR/GBP was higher at 0.901 Pence, up 0.6119%; the pair has ranged from 0.89494 Pence to 0.90118 Pence in today's session.
US Labor News Eyed
After today's decision from the BoE, market players will refocus their attention to the labor data coming out of the US. Initial jobless claims for the week ending June 12th are expected to have slowed to 1.3 million, down from 1.54 million a week ago. Continuing claims are likely to similarly decrease, with forecasters calling for a decline to 19.8 million from 20.92 million. Analysts worry that a second wave of infections and deaths from the lessening of restrictions related to the Coronavirus could result in the closures of businesses that only recently reopened.