GBP Today: Pound to Euro & Dollar Exchange Rates Holds Steady Despite UK Employment Data

Modified: Wednesday, 19 March 2014 22:19 BST - Written by Frank Davies

STORY LINK GBP Today: Pound to Euro & Dollar Exchange Rates Holds Steady Despite UK Employment Data

Today proved to be another good news / bad news session for Pound Sterling (currency:GBP). The minutes of the latest Bank of England policy meeting, published at 0930hrs today, contained some worrying rhetoric for the Pound, warning of the potential downside risk to the UK’s tentative economic recovery should Sterling appreciate from its current level. The Bank stated that the extent to which any increase in the value of the Pound fed through to CPI inflation was dependent on how far any such accumulation was absorbed by the supply chain.

Meanwhile, the latest UK labour market data, released at the same time as the memos of the BoE’s March policy meeting, provided some room for optimism that the apparent improvement in the British economy of recent months was gaining traction. The numbers revealed that the overall level of unemployment in the UK had remained at 7.2%, meaning that the dip in joblessness over recent months had stuck. The job creation element of the numbers also printed at an encouraging level, revealing that 105,000 new jobs had been added to the British payroll during the three months leading up to the end of January.

This afternoon’s session brought the latest Budget statement from UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. For the most part, Osborne’s speech dealt with the minutiae of British economic life, however the Chancellor did announce an increase to his 2014 GDP growth forecast for the British economy from 2.4% to 2.7% and from 2.2% to 2.3% next year. The Pound has traded on a level footing against the euro during today session, remaining firmly within site of the 1.1950 level throughout the day, while the Pound Dollar exchange rate GBP/USD has spent virtually the whole session changing hands in the lower part of the 1.6600s. Losses for Cable are possible at 1800hrs GMT today when the US Federal Reserve announces its latest policy decision.

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