GBP had been rather resilient after triple misses of wage growth, CPI and retails sales. But selling finally picked up after comments from BoE governor Mark Carney yesterday. And GBP is now trading as the second weakest one for the week, just next to NZD.
The key takeaway from Carney’s comment is that he tried to tone down the chance of a May hike. He said “we have had some mixed data … We’ll sit down calmly and look at it all in the round.” He added that “there will be some differences of view but it is a view we will take in early May, conscious that there are other meetings over the course of this year.”
Carney noted that Brexit uncertainty had prevented a “surge in investment” And, “unfortunately that means in the short term that the speed limit (of the British economy) is not increasing. Productivity is not increasing, which will limit the rate at which people’s wages can pick up.”
Near term action bias in GBP is starting to turn bearish.
In particular, GBP/USD is in strong downside action bias in both H and 6H charts.
