Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Megan Greene argued on Thursday that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surprise was "pretty minor" and added that she would not too much weight on the UK being in a technical recession, per Reuters.

Key takeaways

"Middle East risks are only on the upside for inflation and downside for output."

"If Middle East risks do not escalate, we expect the impact on inflation to be temporary and moderate."

"We are not seeing Middle East risk priced into energy markets."

"We don't feel any obligation to follow or front-run other central banks."

"Labour market data showed wage growth is still pretty strong."

Market reaction

GBP/USD edged slightly higher and was last seen posting small daily gains at 1.2570.