The Pound Sterling steadied during trade on Monday after Friday’s disappointing showing. On Friday, the Pound recorded its largest daily fall over the past month as investors ponder the timing of the next step of the Brexit deal between the British government and European Union negotiators. A meeting later this week by the Bank of England is also causing some uncertainty for the Pound as the Monetary Policy Committee gets set to deliver its decision on interest rates. One thing that will be closely scrutinized is whether the BoE downplays the ongoing Brexit negotiations which might indicate they are taking those negotiations into consideration.
As reported at 10:58 am (GMT) in London, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.3384, down 0.01% and well off the session peak of $1.3432 while the low is at $1.3343. The EUR/GBP is trading at 0.8814 Pence, up 0.24%; the pair has ranged from a session low of 0.87720 Pence to a peak of 0.88403 Pence.
BoE Decision Ahead
Ahead of Thursday’s policy decision, FX traders will be waiting for key data out of the UK, including tomorrow’s release of inflation data; currently, analysts are forecasting that CPI for November (month-over-month) will remain unchanged at 3%. Producer price inputs (month-over-month and not seasonally adjusted) are expected to rise to 1.6% from 1.0%. Britain’s retail sales data will be released just ahead of the BoE decision on Thursday, with expectations of an across-the-board rise in all categories.