GBP: EUR/GBP outlook remains soft

UK GDP is a bit disappointing, owing to a surprise fall in activity during September. The 0.1% third-quarter figure is a far cry from the 0.7% and 0.5% in the first and second quarters. Does that show the economy has slowed? Yes, but not as much as the figures suggest, ING’s FX analyst Francesco Pesole notes.

BoE pause in December is the most likely outcome

“A lot of that strength seen in the first half of the year was in non-tradable and non-consumer sectors that have less to do with underlying economic fundamentals. The Bank of England has agreed that the true rate of growth was probably slower in the first half. However, we think the BoE/consensus forecast for the winter is a bit high, and while real wage growth should generate higher GDP, the pace is set to be fairly moderate in the near term before receiving a bit of a budget boost next year.

“GDP was a bit weaker than expected, but it's still not that surprising, particularly given the volatility in the recent data. The BoE is much more focused on the services inflation figures that we'll get next week. In the near-term, they're likely to remain sticky around 5%. Barring a downside surprise, we think a pause in December is the most likely outcome.”

“EUR/GBP has hovered just above 0.830 as a wide rate differential continues to put pressure on the pair. Given we see a low probability of the BoE cutting in December while our call is for a 50bp move by the ECB next month, we struggle to see much upside for EUR/GBP before year-end.”

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