Home Forex Despite the doom and gloom, the pound looks set to end the week higher

Despite the doom and gloom, the pound looks set to end the week higher

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Despite the doom and gloom, the pound looks set to end the week higher

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Despite a harrowing start to the week, the pound looks set to wrap up the week higher than where it was on Friday against the dollar and euro. The Monday open in markets was catastrophic, there’s no hiding from that. However, the BOE stepped in and provided much needed calm in the gilt market and that is translating to the pound finding some confidence as well.

That said, month-end and quarter-end flows are also making it tough to really get a grip on what’s driving the rebound with the dollar also losing some ground in the past few sessions. However, the quid continues to exhibit plenty of volatility and that is not exactly a sign that things are healthy with regards to trading sentiment.

Today itself, we saw cable drop from 1.1140 to 1.1079 in a jiffy during Asia trading. Sure, liquidity conditions may be scarcer then but still it serves as a reminder that traders are crying out for some kind of stability with regards to the pound at the moment. And the fact that the UK government and BOE are not really offering a sense of coherence in terms of policy setting is making it challenging for the market environment as well.

With GBP/USD seeing a strong rebound from below 1.0400 to near 1.1200 at the moment, what’s next for the pound?

You can look at the BOE’s actions as either being defeated and having to step in to introduce some form of yield curve control to calm markets, or perhaps they are just doing their job as being a lender of last resort and preventing solvency issues. Either way, both aren’t exactly what you would call an assuring situation with regards to the gilt market currently.

Sure, we’re not seeing an implosion but on the balance of things, there is still plenty to be worried about for the UK economy moving forward. Policy incoherence, plunging confidence in the government, soaring inflation and high energy prices, the cost-of-living crisis, and now financial stability concerns all make for a poor recipe in terms of the market outlook.

I see all of that as being more of a drag for the pound, despite plenty being known unknowns i.e. likely to have been priced in. Sure, the pound may have salvaged something this week but it owes much to the BOE coming to the rescue. Surely you can’t expect the central bank to do that week in and week out, no?

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