European morning wrap: Rule, Britannia!, sterling king of the heap

BOE's Tucker: UK inflation uncomfortably above target BOE minutes: MPC voted 8-1 to keep QE total at £325 bln.  Posen ends call for further QE UK claimant count +3.600 in March, better than median forecast of +7.000 German auction results German Finance Agency: Schatz auction result "very good" Spain house prices fall -3.0% in Q1 from previous quarter.  Fall -7.2% from year earlier (ughh) Reports SNB checking forward rates in swiss franc Sarkozy: Strong euro hurts exporters.  Euro exchange rate must be discussed with ECB IMF's Lagarde: Sees scope for ECB monetary easing - FAZ Hollande wants more scope for ECB action - Handelsblatt Hollande: If elected will renogotiate EU budget compact. Won't accept austerity as rule for countries - Dow Jones ECB's Weidman: Limits of ECB bond buy plan are clear, but it has not been ended Sterling strength main focus this morning, cable up at 1.5980 from early 1.5925, EUR/GBP down at .8180 from around .8235 and GBP/JPY up at 130.20 from around 129.55. It didn't start out so well.  An Asian central bank whacked cable early, sending it fleetingly below 1.5900 to sesssion low 1.5897 (EBS) 1.5891 (Reuters) But this was short-lived as hawkish comments from BOE's Tucker lifted the pairing quickly back above the opening level. Then a double whammy of better than expected jobs data and hawkish BOE minutes (with Posen no longer calling for further QE) saw the pound strengthen quickly across the board.  Cable has been as high as 1.5993 so far, just shy of the psychological 1.6000 level. EUR/USD down at 1.3075 from early 1.3115. Comments from likes of Sarkozy, Lagarde, Hollande (see above) put EUR/USD under early pressure and it hasn't really recovered.  Rally attempts have run into ACB selling, while Middle Eastern sovereign buying has helped slow the sell-off.  Still turgid price action in this pairing, when all said and done. USD/JPY pretty much unchanged at 81.45 having run into Japanese names selling up at 81.50+