GBP/USD staged a solid comeback on the 1.2900 level so far this Thursday, although the bulls now appear to lack follow-through ahead of the Bank of England (BOE) monetary policy decision. EUR/USD erodes the four-month uptrend at 1.1826, scope for 1.1495 – Commerzbank; Danske Bank now see the EUR/USD range as shifting from 1.18-1.20 to being 1.17-1.19 but stick to their call of 1.23 in six-months time following Powell’s press conference which will likely mean the USD-negative reflation story is set to pause a bit longer. The Dollar Index was up 0.4% at 93.450, while the USD/JPY rose 0.1% to 104.99 after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate at -0.1% and left its asset purchases unchanged, as widely expected. In other markets, DAX in Germany traded 1.1% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 1% and the U.K.’s FTSE index was down 0.8%.  Next (LON:NXT) stock rose 2.6% after the U.K. fashion chain raised its profit outlook for the full year for a second time. It said business had proven “more resilient than we expected” in the first half, despite a 34% fall in sales and a pretax loss. Rivals Inditex (MC:ITX) and H&M (ST:HMb), had both reported a return to profitability in the latest three months.  Trainline (LON:TRNT) also detailed the extent of the hit from the measures taken to curb the spread of Covid-19, with sales down 81% in the first half of fiscal 2021. That said, the U.K.-based company said trading started recovering in the second quarter, with the relaxation of travel restrictions. Its stock rose 2.1%. IG Group (LON:IGG) soared 5.6% after the online trading platform posted a substantial jump in first-quarter revenue, benefiting from high levels of trading activity during these turbulent times. Natixis (PA:BFCEp) stock dropped 2.3% after its H20 Asset Management arm had to write down the value of Windnorst bonds by some 60%. U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $39.84 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.7% to $41.91. Both benchmarks saw gains of close to 5% during the previous session. Gold futures fell 1% to $1,951.40/oz.