020 7898 0500Year-on-year, the UK economy grew by 1.2% in the first quarter of 2018, which was unrevised from the second estimate and followed a downwardly revised 1.3% growth in the previous period. It is the weakest pace of expansion since the second quarter of 2012. However, on quarter-on-quarter, the economy grew by 0.2% which was better than the previous estimate of 0.1%.
The pound rallied against the dollar on the back of the data, despite poor Gfk consumer confidence showing a figure of -9 against expectations of -7. Meanwhile, we also learned that UK mortgage approvals hit their highest mark for four months in May. In total, 64,526 mortgages were approved which was up from 62,941 in April and beat expectations of 62,200.
So, a fine end to the week for sterling, but the question really is whether this can continue. The second quarter certainly belonged to the dollar, which put a poor start to the year behind it to make some significant gains against the pound and euro.
Today we’ll see manufacturing PMI for June, which is expected to have dipped a little to 54 from 54.4 the month before.
