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GBPSterling lost ground against the Euro yesterday, hit by the single currency’s renewed strength as relieved investors became optimistic about Europe after the first round of the French presidential election. The Pound weakened to as much as 85.27 pence per Euro after a Reuters report was released, saying that European…
GBPSterling started the day off well, holding gains versus the broadly weaker Dollar yesterday, with bullish polls for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives raising expectations that the June election will give her a stronger mandate for Brexit talks. Investors seem to be judging that a stronger Parliamentary mandate for May…
GBPOn a very quiet trading day in Europe, the UK unemployment rate printed at 4.7%. This was despite the number of people unemployed falling by 45,000 to 1.56 million in the three months to February. Average earnings including bonuses printed at 2.3%, the same as Tuesday’s inflation reading. The average…
GBPUK consumer prices rose 0.4% in March, slightly above forecasts, while the annual inflation rate remained at 2.3% which was in line with market expectations. Prices were tempered, in part, by a seasonal drop in air fares and fuel prices. This was due to the timing of the Easter break…
GBP The relative political calm in the aftermath of Article 50 has triggered a further squeeze of GBP shorts positions, and traders are buying Pounds to close the positions. With the Euro under pressure as the market adapted positions for a prolonged period of easy European Central Bank (ECB) policy, the…
GBPBritain’s departure from the European Union (EU) is “an historic moment from which there can be no turning back”, Theresa May has said. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty gives both sides two years to reach an agreement, so unless the UK and the 27 remaining EU member states agree…
GBPThe UK mortgage approvals data printed weaker than expected, but with market attention elsewhere there was no significant impact. The Pound continued to test resistance above the 1.2500 level against the Dollar and was unable to break through the 1.1615 mark versus the Euro. The latest CFTC data recorded a…
GBPSterling remained on the up yesterday against its major rivals going into the publication of the UK retail sales data. The Office for National Statistics released its February retail sales figures yesterday which came out stronger than expected at 1.4% up on the month and up 3.7% on the year….
GBPThe Bank of England Agents’ summary of business conditions suggested that the UK economy was continuing to grow moderately. Despite a weaker retail sales report there was some evidence of improving investment intentions based on demand growth and uncertainty reducing on economic prospects. Sterling was constrained below 1.2500 against the…
GBPInflation, as measured by the Office for National Statistics’ Consumer Prices Index (CPI), jumped to 2.3% in February – up from 1.8% in January. The increase has pushed the rate above the Bank of England’s (BoE) 2% target. The result is the strongest seen in many years and now places…