Given a quiet week ahead, and an absence of fundamental data largely through next week, the Pound Sterling will get direction from the upcoming events at the Economic Symposium in Wyoming. Most notably for Sterling will be the speech from Andrew Bailey, head of the Bank of England. Analysts don't expect any surprises from Bailey, however, but will still scrutinize his speech for any nuance that could offer clues as to the BoE's future policy intent. Also of relevance, this week at Jackson Hole will be the Fed's Jerome Powell's highly-anticipated discussion. Analysts believe Mr. Powell will push for inflation averaging, a way to push inflation higher in an attempt to spur the flailing US economy. The Jackson Hole forum will begin later today.
In London trade, as of 11:09 am, the GBP/USD was trading higher at $1.3150, a gain of 0.0327% and off the session peak of $1.31662. The EUR/GBP was lower at 0.8985 Pence, down 0.20%; the pair has ranged from a trough of 0.89752 Pence to a peak of 0.90083 Pence.
US Draws Market Focus
Later today markets attention will focus on the US, with the release of durable goods figures. The US Census Bureau is releasing July's data, and analysts are predicting that the numbers will show a decline to 4.3% from an adjusted 7.6%. Non-defense capital goods order (which exclude aircraft purchases) are also likely to show a marked decline, to 1.9% according to the latest survey of economists, down from a revised 3.4%. Tomorrow, US labor data will be released, with analysts expecting only a slight improvement to the weekly unemployment claims. Preliminary GDP figures for the 2nd quarter are also due to be released, with analysts calling for a slight improvement to -32.5%, from -32.9%.