UK employment and wage data will be published on March 14. Next week will also see British finance minister Jeremy Hunt announce his new budget. "There have been signs in the Bank of England's Decision Maker Panel'…that tightness in the labour market is easing," said Turner. "Any sign of further easing in either wages or CPI numbers number would be a negative event risk for sterling - and vice versa," said Turner.
The market is pricing in a 91% chance of a 25-basis point rate hike when the BoE meets on March 23 for its next policy meeting, with an outside chance of no change . "They haven’t quite kept up pace with what’s happening on the other side of the Atlantic. That’s one of the reasons sterling is a bit lower against the dollar (this week)," said Turner. Next week's British budget will include closely watched growth forecasts for hints over the outlook for the UK economy.
On Wednesday, the British Chambers of Commerce forecast that the country's economy is on track to shrink less than expected this year and avoid two consecutive quarters of contraction, the technical definition of a recession. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Lucy Raitano; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
