Pound gains as BOE offers no pivot, at least for now

<p>The pound has moved higher across the board as the BOE signals a "hawkish" hold but essentially, it is just maintaining the status quo from November. The bar for sounding hawkish is an awfully low one at the moment, after the Fed's extremely dovish take yesterday. GBP/USD has moved up from 1.2660 to 1.2705 currently and is eyeing the highs at the end of November and early December:</p><p>The takeaway from the BOE is that they did not offer up any pivot. And that's about it really. I don't see it being a reason for the pound to sustainably gain against other major currencies (dollar being the exception) especially since there are already some notable signs of softness in the UK data as seen this week. The most evident one being the labour market report <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/uk-november-payrolls-change-12k-vs-33k-prior-20231212/" target="_blank" rel="follow">here</a>.</p><p>EUR/GBP is down slightly from 0.8630 to 0.8605 though the 100-day moving average at 0.8635 remains a key technical hurdle. The ECB will be up next and that will offer added volatility for the pair before the end of the week.</p>

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.