020 7898 0500The Federal Reserve surprised the markets last night by deciding not to reduce their programme of quantitative easing. This immediately saw the US dollar lose ground across the board. This followed a strong day for sterling as it enjoyed gains against all 16 of its most traded partners. This was mainly down to the minutes from the Bank of England’s last meeting which showed a 9-0 vote in favour of keeping both asset purchasing and interest rates at their current levels. This was as expected but it highlighted that none of the members felt that there was a need for any additional stimulus which in turn gave investors encouragement that the BoE saw the economy to be improving for the longer term. As a result, fresh highs against the euro and the US dollar were enjoyed, with sterling witnessing the best rates since January. Today’s UK data release is the monthly retail sales and any economic data following yesterday’s sentiments are sure to begin to have greater influence over the strength of the currency dependant on how they come out. Get in touch now for the latest rate on sterling, as it continues its reaction to yesterday’s revelations.
