There were no major data releases from the UK yesterday. Sterling was pushed towards 1.51 handle, as traders are being cautious ahead of tomorrow's BoE rate decision and following Minutes. Sterling was initially pushed lower on Tuesday after Industrial Production data. To remind ourselves total production output in October 2015 is estimated to have increased by 0.1% compared with September 2015. No change was expected. However, manufacturing output decreased by 0.4% in October 2015 compared with September 2015. The largest contribution to the decrease came from other manufacturing & repair, which decreased by 5.4%.
Traders will keep a close eye on an upcoming Bank of England monetary policy decision and scheduled
central bank commentary as catalysts for further British Pound volatility.
The Bank of England is very widely expected to leave interest rates and its quantitative easing measures unchanged at its December 10 meeting, and the bank does not release meaningful post-decision commentary following inaction.
Thus we’ll look to the release of minutes from the BoE Financial Policy Committee’s November meeting as well as planned public speeches from Governor Mark Carney on December 7th and 11th for clues on the future of UK monetary policy. In the US session Unemployment Claims figures will be released. Decrease to 266,000 is expected.
Figures to watch:
Official Bank Rate/Asset Purchase Facility (Thursday 13:00)
MPC Official Bank Rate Votes (Thursday 13:00)
Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)