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The previous trading week was marked by an important meeting of Bank of England, while its decision on the monetary policy course had an impact on all Pound crosses and the Cable was not an exception. The minutes showed that eight members were in favor of leaving the key interest rate at a record low 0.5% level. Fluctuating in an overall bullish trend for the most of the week due to the strong US statistical data, the pair slipped even more on Thursday, when the BoE decision was finally announced. Meanwhile, in the middle of the week, the Cable held on to modest gains after data showing that growth in the UK service sector slowed more than expected last month, indicating that the economic recovery may be losing momentum. The Markit PMI fell to 57.4 points in July from 58.5 points in June, compared to expectations for a reading of 58.0 points. At the same time, by the end of the day, the Pound rose to two-week highs, amid expectations that a rate hike by the Federal Reserve in the coming months would prompt the Bank of England to follow suit. Trading around 1.56 level on Monday, the Pound lost some ground to hover at 1.5482 on Friday's morning.
This week the sentiment changed a little, as the bullish mood still persists. The average forecast for the end of the current week went down, namely to 1.559 mark. Major events this week include the US preliminary data on unit labor costs on Tuesday, while the next day, the UK is going to publish its latest employment report. In addition, US will produce data on retail sales, initial jobless claims and import prices on Thursday and is going to round up the week with data on producer prices, industrial production and consumer sentiment.
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