The Pound Sterling was under some pressure in London trading on Thursday after the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left investors uncertain of Britain’s economic outlook. Last week, three hawks signaled that they were ready to hike interest rates, but this week, two of the MPC’s voting members gave opposing views in favor of a continued loose policy. On Tuesday, Mark Carney, the BOE Governor, said that the current situation did not call for a rate hike, however the BOE’s chief economist later said that a vote for a rate hike would likely come later this year.
As reported at 10:21 am (BST) in London, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.266, down 0.10%; the pair earlier hit a trough of $1.26559, while the session peak stands at $1.26874. The EUR/GBP was up 0.15% to trade at 0.8824 Pence; earlier, the pair hit a high of 0.88255 Pence while the session low was at 0.88020 Pence.
Pound Outlook Remains Shaky
Analysts say that the Pound may still have further short term losses ahead, dependent once again upon comments from an MPC member. Kristin Forbes, who is an outgoing member of the MPC, will be speaking later today at the London School of Business, and is likely to espouse hawkish, anti-inflation rhetoric. Concerns over the Prime Minister’s impending Brexit negotiations are also putting pressure on the Pound.
