EUR/GBP consolidates its gains around 0.858, eyes on ECB’s Lagarde speech

• EUR/GBP consolidates its gain around the 0.8580 area ahead of the ECB’s Lagarde speech.
• The German Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Q2 remained unchanged at 0% QoQ, the annual figure came in at -0.2%.  
• The downbeat UK data raised concerns of an impending recession in the economy.
• Investors await the ECB’s Lagarde speech later in the day. 

The EUR/GBP cross oscillates in a narrow trading range around 0.8580 heading into the early European session on Friday. Traders prefer to wait on the sidelines ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde's speech at the Jackson Hole annual symposium later in the day. 

The German Gross Domestic Product (GDP) QoQ for the second quarter remained unchanged at 0%, as expected. On a yearly basis, a growth number contracted at 0.2%, in line with market consensus. Investors had already priced in the lower likelihood of an interest rate rise at the September meeting, given moderate GDP growth and milder inflation data released.

Earlier in the week, the first reading of the Eurozone HCOB Composite PMI came In at 47.0 from 48.6 and against the expectation of 48.5. Germany’s Composite PMI declined to 44.7 from 48.5 prior lower than the estimation of 48.3.

On the other hand, the UK’s GfK Consumer Confidence for August improved to -25 from -30 prior and better-than-expected at -29. On Wednesday, the UK Manufacturing PMI dropped to 42.5 versus 45.3 prior. Meanwhile, Service PMI came in at 48.7, lower than the 50.8 expected and 51.3 in the previous month. The downbeat UK data raised concerns of an impending recession and convinced the Bank of England (BoE) to raise interest rates in a slower pace for the entire year, 

Moving on, market participants will keep an eye on ECB President Christine Lagarde’s speech at the Jackson Hole annual symposium. The speech could provide insights into economic conditions and hints about the ECB’s monetary policy. Traders will take cues and find trading opportunities around the EUR/GBP pair.