In European trade on Monday, sterling gained ground against a group of significant competitors, maintaining its advances against the dollar for the second straight day and eroding a two-month high due to a robust appetite for risk.
The increases coincide with Governor Andrew Bailey of the Bank of England's address later today, which may provide insight into interest rate and inflation trends going forward.
EUR/USD
With a session low at 1.2446, GBP/USD surged 0.4% to 1.2510, the highest level since September 13. On Friday, it closed up 0.4%, marking the first profit in three days as the dollar declined versus most of its competitors.
In the wake of a slew of disappointing US data, the pound gained 1.9% against the dollar last week, marking its second weekly rise in three weeks.
Bailey
Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey will talk about interest rates and monetary policy in London later today.
Bailey recently stated that monetary policy should be in place for a long time and that it is premature to discuss interest rate reductions.
According to him, the BOE anticipates that inflation would take two years to approach the 2% target.
The Dollar
Against a basket of key competitors, the dollar index down 0.3% on Monday, intensifying losses for a second session and plunging to a 2-/15 month low of 103.47.
The bad US data reported last week, particularly the data on producer and consumer prices, basically ruled out another interest rate hike for next month, and this is why the dollar is still weak.
Investors currently mostly anticipate that the Federal Reserve will conclude its current cycle of policy tightening and concentrate on the data related to the first interest rate reduction in 2024.
