Mark Carney, the "George Clooney of Finance", heads his first interest rate decision meeting at the Bank of England today - but the real question marks lie over his intentions (or lack of) for quantative easing.

Highlights

@ 13.40: ECB maintain interest rates at 0.5%

    13.00: GBP sees big losses across the board on BoE decision

    12.03: Bank of England makes no changes to interest rates or monetary policy

    10.57: GBPUSD moves lower ahead of news

15.55 Traders Show Bullish Attitude Towards GBP Despite Big Losses Today

Traders at forex broker OANDA are showing a lot more decisiveness in their opinion on the direction of the pound sterling against the major currencies following today’s events. Of all open EURGBP trades, 63.75% are shorts as opposed to 36.25% of traders who believe the Euro will strengthen against the pound.

The pound is receiving support agains the Japanese Yen (54.92% are long) and the Swiss Franc (60.00% of open trades are long).

Traders also believe the GBP will recover from todays losses against the dollar, with GBPUSD open trades made up of 62.70% long trades and 37.30% short.

Elsewhere the USD is being heavily shorted against the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar is seeing strong support against the US dollar and the Japanese Yen (70.20% and 77.51% long respectively).

15:39 GBP Falls As Mark Carney Shows The Kind Of Governor He Intends To Be

Analysts have suggested that Mark Carney, whilst not making any changes to the policy and interest rates, has made a clear statement in his first MPC meeting. Kathy Lien, Managing Director of FX Strategy at BK Asset Management said of the developments, “Even though the central bank left monetary policy unchanged, Mark Carney wasted no time in leaving his mark on the BoE”

Kathy Lien said, “Having just taken over a few days ago, no one expected Carney to use the statement to provide transparency and guidance so quickly..While they felt that the economy is recovering, the pace is ‘weak by historical standards’ and ‘a degree of slack is expected to persist for some time.’ They also warned that, ‘significant upward movement in market interest rates would weigh on that outlook.’”

Lien also noted that, “Consumer prices are expected to increase in the near term and the Bank of England did not feel that the path of the bank rate is warranted based on the trend of economic data. The British pound was crushed by these comments because right out of the gate, Mark Carney made a point to let the world know that he will be a more aggressive central banker with a dovish monetary policy stance and this bias could drive the GBP/USD to 1.50.“

12.17 What are we to expect from Mario Draghi and the ECB and How Will The Euro React?

Dean Popplewell, chief currency strategist at Oanda, gives his take on what we are expecting from the ECB announcement, “first and foremost, the ECB needs to speak more clearly. Analysts are anticipating that the Euro policy makers will acknowledge that recent data has shown some improvement. They should also continue to stress that the risk to economic growth in Europe remains to the downside. It has been suggested that this could be done by the introduction of “forward guidance for interest rates.” The overall theme, like many central banks, will be to stress the message that monetary policy will remain very accommodative for some time.”

He continued, “how will the EUR react? Any further dovish innovations by Draghi and his cohorts would likely be negative for EUR. Portugal’s political uncertainty also throws a wrench into most peoples trading plans. There are market buyers of the single currency on dips and better sellers on rallies. The in-between is influenced more by the illiquid moment and tomorrows NFP.”

12.03 Bank of England Makes No Change To Monetary Policy Or Interest Rates

In Mark Carney’s first meeting as chairman of the Bank of England’s MPC he confirmed that there will be no change to the current monetary policy. With economic reports suggesting that the economy has expanded by 0.5% in Q2, no further quantative easing was deemed necessary and the interest rates were kept at 0.5%. The Asset Purchase Facility remains at £375bn.

"Since the May Inflation Report, market interest rates have risen sharply internationally and asset prices have been volatile. In the United Kingdom, there have been further signs that a recovery is in train, although it remains weak by historical standards and a degree of slack is expected to persist for some time," the Bank of England said in their report.

11.45 Pound Sterling Spot Rates Ahead Of The Big Events

Before the ECB and BoE releases, here is where the pound sterling currently stands:

The euro to pound exchange rate is 0.17 pct higher at 0.8529.

The pound to US dollar exchange rate is down 0.22 pct at 1.5249.

The pound Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.77 pct lower at 1.6688.

The pound Japanese yen exchange rate is 0.45 pct lower at 152.0040.

Please note that these are spot market quotes to which your bank will affix its own discretionary spread. However, an independent FX provider will guarantee to beat your bank's offer, thus delivering you more currency. Please find out more here.

10.57 GBPUSD Moves Lower Ahead Of Key Data Releases

Pound Sterling moved lower in morning trading against the dollar on Thursday despite a lack of trading in the US due to their Independence Day holiday. The move comes as the markets await some key news from the Bank of England and the ECB but also ahead of tomorrow’s release of the US non-farm payrolls.

It reached a low of 1.5238 before moving back up and settling around the 1.5249 mark, down 0.19% on yesterdays close.

09.56: GBPJPY Looking Bullish With Move Up To 163.09 Possible

The pound declined yesterday against the Japanese yen but finished the day higher. As long as the support at 151.26 (see also the rising trendline) holds, a test of the key resistance at 154.76 is favoured. Another support can be found at 149.26, while an initial resistance now lies at 153.02.

In the longer-term, a rise towards the strong resistance at 163.09 (07/08/2009) looks a possibility if the key support area between 146.46 (16/04/2013 low) and 145.88 (15/03/2013 high) holds.

09.24 GBPUSD Technical Analysis Following Big Moves Yesterday

A rally in GBPUSD yesterday saw the pair move up 150 pips before finding resistance around the 1.53 mark, a previous level of support and resistance. Craig Erlam, Market Analyst at Alpari, said of the resistance “This is also where the 100-day SMA intersects the 50 fib level that the pair originally broke below last week, which could be quite a bearish signal, especially given that the 61.8 fib was also broken last week. That said, just below the 61.8 fib, we have an ascending trend line, dating back to 12 March, which is providing significant support for the pair. If this is broken, it should prompt a move back towards 1.50, followed by 1.4830.”

Erlam then went on to say “Alternatively, a continued push higher could see the pair target 1.56, the upper end of the consolidation range that the pair has traded in this year. Along the way, the pair should find resistance around 1.5342, 1.5442, 50% retracement of the move from last months highs to yesterday’s lows, and 1.5476.”

09.00 Morning Spot Rates As GBP Starts The Day Lower

The pound opened weaker across the board this morning after a good day for GBP yesterday. All eyes will be on the ECB and BoE decision today, both of which have the potential to really shake the markets.

The euro to pound exchange rate is 0.06 pct higher at 0.8519.

The pound to US dollar exchange rate is down 0.22 pct at 1.5249.

The pound Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.42 pct lower at 1.6746.

The pound Japanese yen exchange rate is 0.44 pct lower at 152.0180.

Please note that these are spot market quotes to which your bank will affix its own discretionary spread. However, an independent FX provider will guarantee to beat your bank's offer, thus delivering you more currency. Please find out more here.

08.40 What To Expect From Todays Events

Today’s events are headed by monetary policy announcements from the BoE and ECB. Although no changes to policy are expected, there is still the possibility of significant market reaction. In the UK, this is new Governor Mark Carney’s first MPC meeting and whilst it is likely any major policy initiatives will be held back until next month’s meeting, there is a strong possibility that the MPC may issue a press statement accompanying the decision. Should it choose to do so, we suspect its tone is likely to be relatively supportive for the bond market and potentially negative for sterling.

It is also likely that over in the Eurozone, the ECB will leave interest rates unchanged today. However, the press conference will draw strong attention. With the euro area recovery still fragile, ECB president Draghi is likely to repeat that the ECB will monitor forthcoming data closely and ‘stands ready to act’. At recent meetings talk of a possible negative deposit rate has elicited the most market reaction. While this remains a potential option, we expect Mr Draghi to focus on the economic and market conditions which may warrant a more ‘standard’ policy response.

07.40 Key Events As Bank of England Interest Rate Decision Looms

With the US Independence day today the USD will be predictably quiet, so it’s up to the other currencies to make the moves.

09.00 (Europe) The Gross Domestic Product released by the Eurostat is a measure of the total value of all goods and services produced by the Eurozone. The GDP is considered as a broad measure of the Eurozone economic activity and health.

09.00 (Italy) The Public Deficit/GDP released by the National Institute of Statistics, is the difference between the amount the government takes in as revenue against its overall spending relative to the GDP. Generally speaking, if the reading is negative, it means the Italian accounts are in a surplus, and that should be positive (or bullish) for the Euro and vice versa.

12.00 (UK) One of the two big ones for the day for the pound sterling, the Interest Rate Decision will be announced by the Bank of England’s new governor Mark Carney. If the BoE is hawkish about the inflationary outlook of the economy and rises the interest rates it is positive, or bullish, for the GBP. Likewise, if the BoE has a dovish view on the UK economy and keeps the ongoing interest rate, or cuts the interest rate it is seen as negative, or bearish.

12.00 (UK) The second important one for the UK and GBP is the quantative easing decision by the Bank of England. The Asset Purchase Facility announcement will state the value of money the BoE plans to create and inject into the economy through open market bond purchases as a way to influence long-term interest rates.

12.45 (Europe) ECB Interest Rate Decision is announced by the European Central Bank. Usually if the ECB is hawkish about the inflationary outlook of the economy and rises the interest rates it is positive, or bullish, for the EUR. Likewise, if the ECB has a dovish view on the European economy and keeps the ongoing interest rate, or cuts the interest rate it is seen as negative, or bearish.