// COMPARE

Cable closed at 1.3445 (+0.21%), a modest grind higher tracking broad dollar softness. Deutsche Bank's EUR/GBP rally call dampened sterling enthusiasm; GBP underperformed EUR on the session.

Sterling lacks a domestic catalyst this week, so it's purely a dollar funding play. BoE pricing already discounts cuts; without an inflation shock, GBP is range-bound between dollar sentiment and EUR cross-flow.

UK retail sales data and any BoE speaker hints on August cut timing. Resistance at 1.3480; support 1.3400. EUR/GBP move above 0.8680 would cap GBP/USD regardless of dollar direction.

Alphabet rose 0.33% to $390.13. Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 release plus the $1T pre-IPO valuation reinforced GOOGL's strategic investment thesis; Samsung HBM4E added an upstream positive.

Anthropic's valuation is a direct mark-to-market on GOOGL's stake. With the Cloud Anthropic partnership deepening, GOOGL captures both equity upside and the workload demand. Search-cannibalization fears recede this week.

Anthropic IPO timeline detail; any Gemini 3.0 release leak. Resistance $395 then $400. Support $385. Antitrust calendar still quiet.