Published: 30/08/2023 By ECAP
The British Pound was relatively flat even though the British Retail Consortium for August dropped to 6.9% year on year from 7.6% in July. However, as markets are pricing in a 75% probability of a 25-basis point rate hike by the BoE in September, this, in turn, has limited the downside of the Pound and could act as a headwind in the near term.The Euro has been on the back foot lately following weaker than expected economic data from the Eurozone. This might convince the ECB to pause interest rates at its next meeting on September 14th. Looking forward, this week's publication of Eurozone inflation figures and the ECB's updated economic projections might provide signals about future monetary policy.
The greenback slumped yesterday, pulling back sharply from a near three-month high, after the release of data showing JOLTS job openings fell to a two and a half year low in July. This prompted investors to pare bets for further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year.