The euro sliced through the 1.3000 level while the pound dropped below 1.4600 in early European trade as concern over ECB policy actions and some risk aversion flows in European equities weighed on high beta currencies at the start of the week. Comments over the week-end by ECB chief Jean Claude Trichet suggested that the central bank may lower rates by another 25bp to 1.00 percent while ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said the bank’s benchmark 1.25 percent interest rate is “very close” to its floor.

The GBP/USD is poised for an intraday break-out as prices have been trapped within a narrow range.

The pound lost more than 200 points by early London trade after the currency came under assault on multiple fronts as the economic fundamentals of the UK economy deteriorated further, UK jobless rolls swelled by 138.4K versus expectations of 84.5K as the overall unemployment number crossed the critical 2 Million mark. The claimant count rate increased by 4.3% versus 4.0% forecast while average earnings including bonus dropped from 3.2% the month prior to 1.8% in January. Additionally the unit was hurt by an earlier report from IMF that suggested UK recession could last well into 2010.

An update to this morning's GBP/USD and EUR/USD trades....

Cable has fallen a remarkable 400 points at the starts of this week’s trade hitting lows not seen since the end of January. What’s behind the sell off and is it likely to continue? Tonight’s drop in the pound was triggered by yet more bad news from the UK banking sector. Shares of Lloyds PLC tumbled 14 percent after UK’s biggest lender ceded corporate control to the government in return for state guarantees covering more than $367 Billion of assets.

Cable started the week with a 200 point drop as investor worries over the state of UK banking sector pressured the Footsie and sent the currency tumbling below the 1.4000 level for the second time this month. Shares of Llyods PLC tumbled 14 percent after UK’s biggest lender ceded corporate control to the government in return for state guarantees covering more than $367 Billion of assets. The news dragged the Footsie lower by more than 1% and pressured the pound into the early morning London trade.

The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealed that the Bank of England voted unanimously to support quantitative easing as authorities attempt to employ every policy tool at their disposal to stimulate the moribund UK economy. The MPC also voted 8-1 to lower rates by 50bp with David Blanchflower once again reaffirming his dovish stance by opting for a 100bp cut.

On a night when the rest of the G10 currencies consolidated their losses in listless, event free trading, cable was the main source of action dropping 200 points from its highs on news that Bank of England voted unanimously for quantitative easing. The BOE voted 9-0 to expand its monetary policy initiatives beyond rate cutting and 8-1 to lower rates by 50bp with Blachflower once again calling for 100bp cut.

In what may be a small glimmer of hope, UK PMI Services printed better than forecast at 42.5 against 40.3 suggesting that UK economy may be finally showing some signs of stabilization. This was the third consecutive PMI reading this week that surprised to the upside lending more credence to the sterling bullish view that the worst of the UK contraction may be over.

The assault on the pound continued for the second night in a row as the unit hit a 7 year low plunging through the physiologically critical 1.4000 level for the first time since 2001. FX traders feared that the massive new UK government spending schemes to rescue the ailing banking sector would result in further deterioration of country’ s balance sheet effectively devalued the currency by 3% overnight.