Pound Mixed as EUR Steadies itself, USD lower

The pound is mostly flat this morning, although it fell slightly against the EUR and has come off the recent lows against the USD.  The EUR has slightly steadied it self against the pound and dollar as sentiment surrounding the single area currency seems to be improving and market hopes that EU officials will arrive at a resolution to the region’s sovereign debt issues.  Sterling gained against the dollar off its lows even as yesterday’s UK shop sales data declined this month to the lowest level since May 2010.  However, despite the steadying levels against the EUR and gains against the USD, the pound will likely remain under downward pressure as the market is expecting more quantitative easing from the UK.  This morning David Miles, a member of the monetary policy committee, said that he was increasingly in favour of voting for more QE as he sees it an effective measure to boost the economy.  He said that, “I think we do on the MPC have substantial ammunition to use if we need to”, alluding to the bank’s option to effect more QE as soon as the next meeting.  With no data of note out in the UK today, expect the pound to remain in ranges and to trade in response to market sentiment and developments on the continent and across the pond