020 7898 0500It was another day for strange, subdued surprises yesterday as sterling found itself dipping below US$1.35 for the first time in a week despite some pretty positive data from the UK. It did manage to clamber back above this level as the day progressed, but the market reaction was perhaps not how one would reasonably have expected it to go.
Industrial production increased by 0.4% in November which beat expectations of a 0.3% gain, while manufacturing figures were also encouraging. Manufacturing production increased by 3.5% year-on-year in November 2017 and we also learned that UK GDP might have grown by as much as 0.6% in the final quarter of 2017. We will know for sure when the Office for National Statistics publish their official estimate on 26 January.
