The Pound Sterling (GBP) starts the week on a slightly positive note. The British currency ticks up as market experts have pared bets supporting a higher number of interest rate cuts by the Bank of England (BoE) for the remainder of the year.

According to a report from Reuters, a number of Wall Street brokerage houses have reassessed their BoE rate cut expectations, following the release of the hotter-than-projected United Kingdom (UK) Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for June and lesser-than-expected weakness in the labor market data for the three months ending in May.

Analysts at Bank of America (BofA) Global Research, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs pared expectations for a September BoE interest rate cut on Thursday. Citigroup expects the central bank to cut interest rates in August, November and December.

Last week, the UK CPI report showed that inflationary pressures grew at a faster-than-expected pace. The UK headline and core CPI rose by 3.6% and 3.7% on year, respectively. Meanwhile, the labor market data showed that the decline in the number of employees, which are already on payroll, was less than what it appeared in prior readings. According to the employment report, the number of workers laid off was revised lower to 25K from prior estimates of 109K.

This week, investors will pay close attention to the preliminary UK S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data for July and the Retail Sales data for June, which will be released on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Source: Fxstreet