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GBP Yesterday’s media reaction to the budget was lukewarm with a row over tax increases for the self-employed negatively impacting market sentiment. GBPUSD closed in the red for a fourth consecutive day, having extended its decline to a fresh seven-week low of 1.2133. The first major UK economic releases for the…
GBP Whilst the UK awaits tomorrow’s spring budget release, Sterling was unable to regain the 1.2300 level against the Dollar on Monday and drifted to lows below the mid-1.2200 level while the Euro advanced to seven-week highs of around 1.1530 against the Pound. The latest BRC data recorded a 0.4%…
The Pound fell to a seven-week low against the Dollar on Friday after worse than expected data on the UK’s services sector showed that growth had slowed to a five-month low. The Pound fell 0.3% against the Dollar after the Markit/CIPS index of sentiment among purchasing managers (PMI) showed a…
Sterling weakened on the day following inflation data, with the UK currency moving back below its previous highs. UK consumer prices declined 0.5% last month and the year-on-year figure increased to 1.8% from 1.6%. This was the highest rate since June 2014 and lower than market participants’ forecast. There was…
UK industrial production surprised with a 1.1% increase for December compared with the forecasted 0.1% decline. Manufacturing output rose 2.1% following a 1.4% gain previously. Production overall grew 0.3% for the fourth quarter for which no growth had been forecast. The trade deficit fell to GBP10.9bn from GBP11.6bn but export…
The Bank of England revealed that the outgoing Deputy Governor Minouche Shafik would be replaced by Charlotte Hogg before March’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. It was also announced that Kristin Forbes will be stepping down at the end of June. Forbes has been one of the more hawkish MPC…
Bank of England Deputy Governor Cunliffe commented that the UK economy would slow during 2017. He expects that investment will remain weak in the short term, although he also expects a recovery over the medium term. The Article 50 bill was passed by the Commons last night with no amendments,…
The Bank of England’s (BoE) Kristin Forbes has hawkishly stated that interest rates could start to rise in response to the weaker Sterling. In her own words: “In my view, if the real economy remains solid and the pickup in the nominal data continues, this could soon suggest an increase…
Sterling fell against the Dollar for a third consecutive day yesterday, settling around the 1.2450 mark after posting a daily low of 1.2427. The Pound was still suffering from last Thursday’s Bank of England’s comments that there is no rush to hike rates, and that interest rates could move in…
The UK PMI manufacturing index dipped slightly to 55.9 for January from 56.1 previously, but still remains in the neighbourhood of 30-month highs. The input price inflation rising to the highest level for 25 years has increased speculation that the Bank of England will have to tighten monetary policy, which…