Pound Sterling trades mixed ahead of Warsh’s testimony, UK CPI data

• The Pound Sterling trades lower against the US Dollar at around 1.3510 ahead of Kevin Warsh’s testimony.
• The UK’s Average Earnings Excluding Bonuses arrive higher at 3.6% YoY against 3.5% estimates.
• Investors await the UK CPI data for fresh cues on the interest rate outlook.

The Pound Sterling (GBP) demonstrates a mixed performance against its major currency peers during the late European trading session on Tuesday. The British currency recovers half of its early losses against the US Dollar (USD), with the GBP/USD pair trading 0.15% lower around 1.3510, following the release of the United Kingdom (UK) labor market data for the three months ending in February.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the ILO Unemployment Rate dropped to 4.9%, while it was expected to remain steady at 5.2%. New jobs created during the quarter ending February were 25K, significantly lower than the previous reading of 84K.

Average Earnings Excluding Bonuses, a key measure of wage growth, cooled down at a moderate pace to 3.6% Year-on-Year (YoY) against estimates of 3.5%. In the three months ending January, the wage growth measure was recorded at 3.8%.

Better-than-projected wage growth numbers and a lower jobless rate are expected to allow traders to maintain bets supporting the Bank of England (BoE) leaving interest rates unchanged at 3.75% in the policy meeting on April 30.

For more cues on the BoE’s monetary policy outlook, investors await the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for March, which will be released on Wednesday. The UK CPI report is expected to show that the headline inflation accelerated to 3.3% YoY from the previous reading of 3%.

During the late European trade, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, trades almost 0.2% higher to near 98.20 ahead of the confirmation hearing of United States (US) President Donald Trump’s nominee, Kevin Warsh, as the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) next chairman at 14:00 GMT.

Kevin Warsh’s testimony at his confirmation hearing is expected to be significant for the US Dollar’s outlook, as it will indicate his thoughts on the Fed’s monetary policy outlook. In his previous work at the Fed, Warsh was known for having a preference for a strong US Dollar and opposing Quantitative Easing (QE) in the Fed’s balance sheet.

However, Warsh’s decision-making in his new term is expected to be influenced by US President Trump’s economic agenda, as he has criticized the Fed, especially Chairman Jerome Powell, several times for not lowering interest rates aggressively.