Breaking: BOE leaves rates unchanged, ready to do more, GBP/USD off the highs

Yohay Elam FXStreet

The BOE has left the interest rate unchanged at 0.10% and the QE program at £645 billion. The Monetary Policy Committee has been united around the decision, voting unanimously. The corporate bond target is at £10 billion, unchanged as well.

The BOE has left the door open to expand its asset purchase program – print more pounds. It also foresees a rapid rise in unemployment across a range of economies, with a risk of long-term damage to the economy.

GBP/USD is trading around 1.1965, off the highs recorded earlier.

Follow all the BOE updates on the live coverage

GBP USD Technical Analysis March 26 2020 BOE

The Bank of England has already convened twice this month for unscheduled decisions, in response to the coronavirus crisis. The first decision was overseen by outgoing governor Mark Carney, and the second one by the current head of the bank, Andrew Bailey.

The BOE slashed rates from 0.75% to 0.10% – the lowest in the BOE's 300+ year history. It also announced an additional £200 billion in new Quantitative Easing and also launched a lending scheme.

GBP/USD was advancing ahead of the release, flirting with 1.20. Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the Fed will not run out of ammunition. US jobless claims are eyed.

Author

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

GBP/USD flirts with tops near 1.3470

GBP/USD manages to regain composure and challenge the area of daily highs around 1.3470 on Friday. Cable picks up pace despite marginal gains in the Greenback in a context of swelling geopolitical tensions and rising global oil prices.

EUR/USD trims losses, back above 1.1500

EUR/USD picks up some pace and bouces off earlier lows, reclaiming the 1.1500 threshold and beyond at the end of the week. The pair’s modest pullback follows a persistent risk-averse market mood and renewed buying interest for the US Dollar.

Gold: The $4,000 mark holds the downside for now

Gold faces renewed selling pressure, falling sharply toweard the $4,000 mark per troy ounce as the US Dollar regains momentum. Escalating US-Iran tensions are keeping inflation concerns and expectations of further Fed rate hikes alive, weighing further on the yellow metal.

Bitcoin eyes 50-day EMA breakout, Ethereum consolidates, XRP steadies

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple trade near key technical levels on Friday as the broader cryptocurrency market pauses following last week's recovery. BTC is approaching the 50-day Exponential Moving Average while ETH continues to consolidate between two major EMAs.

Warsh needs to restore his reputation

We were glad to see our deeply negative reaction to the Warsh press conference was not some personal peculiarity. Just about everybody in the financial press felt the same way. The consensus is building it’s not the Fed in the dog-house but only Warsh. Today the WSJ changed it tune and blasted Warsh—"the honeymoon is already over..”

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.