MW: British pound hits intraday high on Carney speech
By Saumya Vaishampayan
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The British pound jumped to an intraday high Wednesday as Bank of England Governor Mark Carney delivered his first public speech after joining July 1. Carney said the U.K. central bank is ready to increase stimulus if rising interest rates worldwide threaten Britain's economic recovery. The pound GBPUSD -0.18% hit $1.5552 around 9 a.m., the highest level on the day and more than $1.5543 late Tuesday, according to FactSet. Carney emphasized that the 7% unemployment rate is a threshold, not a trigger, for raising interest rates. The Bank of England said earlier this month it will maintain a benchmark rate of 0.5% until the jobless rate hits 7%.
