By Areena Fx- The Euro extends losses against the Pound, reaching levels near 0.8670 to reverse Tuesday’s rally.
- UK Manufacturing activity beat expectations, and the GDP bounced up, improving the UK’s economic outlook.
- ECB member Pierre Wunsch said that the possibility of one more rate cut has receded,
The Euro is trading lower for the second consecutive day, retracing most of the gains taken on Tuesday and reaching intra-day lows at 0.8673 as the Pound Sterling rallies on the back of stronger-than-expected UK manufacturing data.
Manufacturing production expanded at a 0.7% pace in August, beating expectations of a 0.4% growth and reversing a 1.1% decline in July, which has been upwardly revised from previous estimations of a 1.3% decline. Likewise, Industrial Production rose 0.4% following a 0.4% decline in the previous month and beating the market consensus of a 0.2% increase.
The Goods race balance also came out above expectations with a GBP 21.183 billion deficit, wider than the GBP 20,649 shortfall seen in July but better than the GBP 22.0 billion deficit expected.
The monthly Gross Domestic Product edged up 0.1% in August, as expected, reversing the 0.1% contraction seen in July.
In the Eurozone, the governor of the Belgian Central Bank and ECB’s committee member, Pierre Wunsch, affirmed that he is not uncomfortable with bets of one further ECB cut, but that the probability of that scenario has been receding. Later in the day, ECB President Christine Lagarde is likely to give further insight into the central bank’s monetary policy plans.