EUR/GBP recovers to 0.8550 as ECB Lagarde see fight with inflation is still on

The EUR/GBP pair extends its recovery to 0.8550 in the early American session on Thursday. The cross recovered after discovering strong buying interest near the psychological support of 0.8500. The Euro strengthened against the Pound Sterling after commentary from ECB President Christine Lagarde raised doubts about whether the central bank will really pivot to rate cuts from the June meeting.

On Wednesday, ECB Lagarde commented, “Growth in Europe is mediocre, much slower than in the US”. Lagarde warned that the fight against inflation is not over. Contrary to Lagarde, ECB Governing Council member Klaas Knot said in Thursday’s European session that he is not uncomfortable with the market pricing of ECB rate cuts. Knot added, “he is increasingly confident about the disinflation process.”

Separately, ECB policymaker Joachim Nagel said that he can't rule out small rebounds in inflation in Germany in some months this year.

Meanwhile, traders have reassessed speculation for rate cuts by the Bank of England (BoE) as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for March softened at a slower rate than estimated. Investors see the BoE to reduce interest rates only once this year instead of three. Also, the BoE is anticipated to choose the November meeting for starting to reduce interest rates.

Going forward, the Pound Sterling will be guided by the United Kingdom Retail Sales data for March, which will be published on Friday. The monthly Retail Sales are forecasted to have grown by 0.3% after remaining stagnant in February.