Bank of England Meeting minutes showed that despite some recession during Q4 there is no need in the expansion of quantitative easing. Only one member of the Monetary Policy Committee voted against this month’s decision to pause bond purchases. Policy makers voted 8-1 to keep the bond-buying plan at 375 billion pounds.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom pledged a referendum on Britain leaving the European Union. Cameron said he would put a question to a popular vote by the end of 2017, if is re-elected in two years and once he has negotiated a return of some powers to the United Kingdom. Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference in Berlin that “ you have to keep in mind that other countries have their own wishes and we always have to come to a fair compromise in the end.”
It is obvious that if the UK leaves the EU, the country will worsen its positions. Consequently the majority of investors did not consider Cameron’s speech to be serious. Thus, the pound did not change its positions. Nevertheless, there is little positive for the British pound, though the number of unemployed decreased 12.1 K against forecast for increase in 0.4 K, the unemployment rate is 7.7%.
Today at 13:30 GMT+4 U.K. Mortgage Approvals in December is to be published. Forecast 34.1 k against 33.6 in November. At 15:00 GMT+4 U.K. Retail sales volume balance, forecast 14 against 19 in December.
The markets may reflect yesterday’s data on U.K.’s GDP Q4, forecast 0.1% against 0.9% in Q3.
From the technical point of view the target is 1.5775/80. It is the point of confluence of two trendlines and the level of Fibonacci 161.8% on the daily chart.
