Investing.com - The pound was little changed against the broadly stronger U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as investors pared back expectations for more easing by the Federal Reserve after Tuesday’s strong U.S. retail sales data.
GBP/USD hit 1.5700 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5676, dipping 0.02%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5604, the low of August 9 and resistance at 1.5716, Monday’s high.
The pound hit the session high against the greenback earlier after the minutes of the Bank of England’s August policy meeting showed that policymakers voted unanimously to leave policy unchanged and after better-than-expected U.K. employment data.
BoE policymakers voted 9 to zero in favor of leaving U.K. interest rates unchanged at 0.5% at its meeting this month and also agreed to leave the quantitative easing program unchanged at GBP375 billion.
The decision to leave the central bank’s monetary stimulus program unchanged was "finely balanced" for some policymakers, but the monetary policy committee wanted more time to assess the impact of the bank’s new Funding for Lending Scheme.
Meanwhile, official data showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. fell unexpectedly in July and the nation’s unemployment rate ticked down.
The Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by a seasonally adjusted 5,900 in July, defying expectations for an increase of 6,000.
The rate of unemployment unexpectedly ticked down to 8.0% from 8.1% in June, against expectations for no change.
But the greenback remained well supported following Tuesday’s data showing that U.S. retail sales snapped four successive months of declines in July, jumping 0.8%, surpassing expectations for a 0.3% increase.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.37% to 0.7830.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release official data on consumer price inflation and industrial production, as well as a report on manufacturing activity in the New York area.
GBP/USD hit 1.5700 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5676, dipping 0.02%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5604, the low of August 9 and resistance at 1.5716, Monday’s high.
The pound hit the session high against the greenback earlier after the minutes of the Bank of England’s August policy meeting showed that policymakers voted unanimously to leave policy unchanged and after better-than-expected U.K. employment data.
BoE policymakers voted 9 to zero in favor of leaving U.K. interest rates unchanged at 0.5% at its meeting this month and also agreed to leave the quantitative easing program unchanged at GBP375 billion.
The decision to leave the central bank’s monetary stimulus program unchanged was "finely balanced" for some policymakers, but the monetary policy committee wanted more time to assess the impact of the bank’s new Funding for Lending Scheme.
Meanwhile, official data showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. fell unexpectedly in July and the nation’s unemployment rate ticked down.
The Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by a seasonally adjusted 5,900 in July, defying expectations for an increase of 6,000.
The rate of unemployment unexpectedly ticked down to 8.0% from 8.1% in June, against expectations for no change.
But the greenback remained well supported following Tuesday’s data showing that U.S. retail sales snapped four successive months of declines in July, jumping 0.8%, surpassing expectations for a 0.3% increase.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.37% to 0.7830.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release official data on consumer price inflation and industrial production, as well as a report on manufacturing activity in the New York area.