Forex: GBP/USD stalls ahead of 1.5300

TD Securities analysts consider yesterday’s BoC message as predictable, “sticking with the very weak tightening bias but acknowledging the softer economic trends evident recently and intimating that the eventual hike in rates remains very distant (by pushing the closing of the output gap out another year to mid-2015)”, and seeing overall upside bias on the USD/CAD: “We continue to target a push to 1.06 by the middle of the year. Note that Governor Carney is speaking this morning (very unlikely to reveal any more than yesterday’s press conference). G-20/IMF meetings get underway in Washington (draft communiqué reaffirms pledge to avoid competitive devaluations)”, wrote analysts Shaun Osborne and Greg Moore, allowing corrective pressure to extend a little lower in the near-term to the low 1.02 area, “but we continue to believe that the broader trend here is higher and that modest dips remain a buying opportunity”. “Trend indicators continue to suggest a deeply entrenched bull move”, the concluded.