The pound bounced above 1.1500 earlier on Friday to regain lost ground during the European and US trading sessions and reach the 1.1600 resistance area. In a bigger picture, the pair remains trading in a range for the second consecutive day, consolidating gains after a two-day rally from levels below 1.1300 earlier this week.
Market expectations that the Federal Reserve might start softening its monetary tightening pace over the following months are keeping USD bulls in check.
Investors have already priced in a 0.75% hike in December, but the increasing rumors about the possibility of scaling down monetary tightening in December are curbing demand for the dollar.
Beyond that, the myriad of US macroeconomic data released on Friday has failed to provide a clear direction for the USD.
US personal spending has grown beyond expectations in September (0.6% against the consensus 0.4%), confirming that Americans have continued shopping, despite the soaring inflation, which maintains the US economy in good shape and clears the Fed’s path for another aggressive hike in December.
On the other hand, wage growth slowed down in the third quarter, according to Labor Department data, suggesting that inflation might have peaked or is close to doing so.
Furthermore, the US Personal Consumption Expenditures remained flat at a 6.2% yearly pace in September, while the Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, increased below expectations.