Good afternoon,
The GBP/USD cross continued to slide during trading today as the Bank of England reiterated once again they are in no rush to raise interest rates. When trading opened this morning sterling/dollar was sitting just below $1.6875 but with no improvement to UK unemployment and the comments made by BoE Governor Mark the pound started to weaken and at the time of writing exchange rates where down to $1.6776.
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It was widely expected that the BoE would adopt a similar approach used by the European Central Bank last week to talk down its currency. The BoE do not want a strong pound to impact the UK's exports and today's speech by Mr Carney meant the value of the pound dropped across the board.
During his speech Mr Carney said that interest rates may stay at their current levels for some time and that any increase would be gradual. There had been growing speculation that the central bank could raise rates as early as the first quarter of 2015 but following these comments that now looks unlikely to happen.
What could impact the GBP/USD cross for the rest of the week?
For the remaining part of this week the UK is going to be fairly quite in terms of economic data releases, which means the pound will be at the mercy of events in the U.S. Over the next two days the States will release their monthly CPI figures, unemployment claims and manufacturing numbers, there is also a speech for Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
If the U.S. can put together a good run of positive numbers there is every chance we could see the dollar claw back a bit more ground against the dominant pound. I will keep you updated as events unfold but in the meantime if you are looking at buying or selling dollars in the coming weeks and want to ensure you are making the most from your transfer, use the link below to complete the contact form or call me directly on 0044 (0) 1442 892 065.
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