Little UK data this week so news, events elsewhere to be influential

UK growth figures released on Friday showed that the UK economy was finally back to the level pre-financial crisis but even reaching this milestone wasn’t enough to change the malaise that sterling currently finds itself in. There seems to be a lack of energy and momentum to take it higher and there were a lot of stories in this weekend’s press about how the exports were being effected by the “strong” pound. Perhaps it has something to do with holding international sporting events here in the UK because last time sterling peaked against the euro was during the London Olympics and post that event we have saw a significant decline over the next twelve months. Are we seeing a repeat with the Commonwealth games? Probably not but it never makes sense to be over optimistic or pessimistic about where sterling is going in the current climate as the range of factors at play are larger and international.

Looking to this week, sterling has a fairly quiet start to the week. Key events are weighed heavily towards the end of the week, with the most significant release being the manufacturing data to be released on Friday morning. Sterling is more likely to be moved by events elsewhere especially in the US where there are a whole range of data being released during the course of this week.