GBPUSD (Cable) just cracked back below 1.50 and is trading at its lowest since July 2010 as The FT reports [5] that it appears George Osborne (British Chancellor) is paving the way for Mark Carney (Bank of England governor) to follow the so-called 'Merkel-Draghi wager' that Europe is dangerously betting on [6].
GBPUSD is now down 8.6% YTD (an annualized rate of devaluation of 40%!)
[7]
and that means GBPJPY is unchanged on the year...
[8]
Instead of following business secretary Vince Cable's proposal of a new program of spending on schools, roads and housing – funded by extra borrowing - Osborne will use his Budget on March 20 to reinforce his message of “fiscal conservatism and monetary activism” by clarifying how the government intends to use monetary policy to get the economy growing again.
Treasury officials are discussing proposals to change the remit of the bank - which could include giving the monetary policy committee greater time to bring inflation back to the 2 per cent target, giving the BoE a Federal Reserve-style dual mandate to target both employment and inflation, and even targeting cash spending in the economy rather than inflation.
It would appear our short Cable trade continues to do well [9] as Carney's arrival heralds more aggression in the global currency wars.
Chart: Bloomberg