Majors Hold Steady Ahead Of US Data

Sterling trades sideways ahead of BoE Mann's speech

Sterling began this morning on a high note, supported by overnight gains as investors 'bought the dip' seeking to get a bargain in the wake of GBP's dovish losses. That said, the GBP/USD pair remains relatively quiet as traders await commentary from Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Catherine Mann at 15:00 today for more guidance on future interest rates. Markets expect Mann to maintain the hawkish sentiment as she was one of the policymakers who voted for an interest rate hike by 25 bps in the monetary policy meeting held on February 1st.

Data: 15:00 MPC Member Mann Speaks

EUR: Let's hear it for the hawks

EUR/USD is drifting around. In terms of todays calendar, we receive the European Central Bank's economic bulletin at 09:00 GMT and then have speeches from key ECB hawks, Boris Vujcic and Pierre Wunsch. Despite the recent ECB pushback against early easing - including most recently from Isabel Schnabel - The market is attaching a 60% probability to a 25bp cut from the ECB in April. Elsewhere, the slightly higher rate environment has seen EUR:CHF two-year swap differentials widen back out to 188bp, supporting EUR/CHF.

Data : 09:00 ECB Economic Bulletin

GBP/USD Rebound

The Dollar continued to steadily retreat from its twelve-week high against the Pound yesterday, amid a lack of data. The safe-haven 'Greenback' slumped throughout Wednesdays session, with a lack of positive data reports to cushion USD's downside. Further sinking the US Dollar, a shift towards more dovish language surrounding upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions to sour USD sentiment. Looking ahead, the latest unemployment claims for the week ending 3rd February are due today. The forecasted decline could offer the US Dollar some support.

Data: 13:30 Unemployment Claims