020 7898 0500Sterling enjoyed a strong day yesterday, making good gains against both the US dollar and the euro on the back of positive labour data and following the release of the minutes from the Bank of England’s latest meeting. The minutes reaffirmed unanimous support for keeping interest rates on hold at 0.5% and maintaining the current level of quantitative easing, however, 1 of the 9 members voted against the given forward guidance plan. The one vote against this actually supported a shorter time scale for the first inflation knock out clause. Alongside this crucial information, unemployment claims data came out better than expected, showing the number of claims had reduced by 29,000, compounding the gains for sterling. This was down to the important link between unemployment levels and future interest rate increases laid out by Mark Carney in his report last week. The wave of important data from the UK continues today, in the shape of monthly Retail Sales, so we could still see further action from the currency as the week goes on. Call your trader now to get the latest price on sterling.
