The Pound Sterling edged lower against its US rival, a repercussion of higher yields on US Treasuries which helped boost demand for the greenback. Also weighing on Sterling are investors' concerns that Britain might move too swiftly to ease lockdown measures currently in place as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. The latest efforts by the Prime Minister to plot an exit managed to only sow confusion and opposition; Boris Johnson will attempt to give salient details later today on how best to put the British economy back to work.
As of 11:12 am in London, the GBP/USD was trading lower at $1.2355, down 0.4304% and moving away from the session trough of $1.23460. The EUR/GBP was higher at 0.8758 Pence, a gain of 0.2874%; the pair has ranged from 0.87104 Pence to 0.87604 Pence in today's session. The GBP/JPY was higher at 132.5110 Yen, up 0.1065%.
Key Fundamental Data Outlook
From a fundamental standpoint, a quiet trading day today will likely see increased volatility into Tuesday. The National Bureau of Statistics in China will be releasing April's personal inflation data, with analysts expecting to see a decline to 3.7%. Later in the day, the US Department of Labor will also be releasing annualized inflation data. Currently, the latest poll suggests that annualized core inflation will fall to 1.7% in April from the previous 2.1% reading. On Wednesday, the UK's Office of National Statistics will be releasing productivity data for month of March, with expectations that industrial production will see a major slide to -5.8%. GDP is also expected to tumble to -7% on month-over-month basis, while preliminary data for the first quarter is likely to show a fall to -2%.