Recent inflation data led to a decline in the British pound during the first half of the day and its subsequent trade in a narrow lateral channel.
Despite the fact that the level of inflation in the UK remained at its peak, there was a sharp slowdown in the growth of commodity prices. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the UK, the consumer price index rose 3.0% in October compared to the same period of the previous year. Economists had expected the consumer price index to accelerate to 3.1%.
Inflation in October increased by only 0.1% after rising by 0.3% in September. Economists had expected the consumer price index to add 0.2%. The index of purchasing prices in October slowed to 4.6% against 8.1% in September.
Once again, the Bureau noted that the growth was due to a sharp depreciation of the pound following the referendum, which led to the stimulation of price increases.
As for the technical picture of the GBP/USD pair, only a break of 1.3080 could lead to a larger selling with the update of support levels like 1.3040 and 1.3000. If the pound follows the example of the European currency, then going beyond the upper border of the 1.3125 channel can strengthen the presence in the market of buyers, which will lead to an upward wave in areas 1.3185 and 1.3270.
Data on the optimism of small business owners in the United States slightly supported the US dollar, which continued to decline steadily against the euro.
According to the report of the National Federation of Independent Business, the index of optimism in small business grew by 0.8 points in October 2017 compared to September, to 103.8 points. As noted in the report, the owners have become more optimistic about the growth of real sales and improvement of business conditions by the end of the year.
Inflation data in the United States also did not help the US dollar.
According to the report of the US Department of Labor and producer prices of the US, inflation in October this year increased by 0.4% compared with the previous month. The basic index of PPI, which does not take into account the prices for food and energy, added 0.4% in October. As noted in the report, the main growth is associated with a rise in the cost of trade services, by 1.1% compared to September. Economists had expected the index to increase 0.1%, and the base index - 0.2%.