Forex: GBP/USD dips to fresh lows around 1.5260

The April meeting minutes came in largely as expected, with the MPC voting 6-3 in favor of unchanged asset purchases (and 9-0 in favor of unchanged rates), with Fisher, Miles, and Governor King continuing to prefer a £25bn extension of QE for the third meeting in a row, and not a single MPC member changing his vote from the prior month. TD Securities analysts found interesting the mention that the “Committee also saw merit in possible extensions to the FLS that would boost lending further”: “This is in line with what we have been saying for some time, that further stimulus from the BoE is more likely to come via FLS or another program that is targeted toward expanding credit, rather than more QE. With UK rates still quite low, that would likely be more effective at fixing what aids the UK economy right now, rather than using a blunt tool like QE”, wrote analyst Jacqui Douglas, adding that today’s minutes just reinforced the continuing data-dependent nature of the BoE’s QE decision.