020 7898 0500Sterling ended the week on a positive, albeit a slight one. The strengthening of the pound against the euro and dollar was only slight and so it is nothing to get too excited about. However, after a pretty positive ending to 2017, the pound has not yet stalled and with further progress in Brexit talks expected in the coming months perhaps 2018 will be the year when the pound can retrace the losses of 2017 and 2016.
As mentioned above, UK car sales suffered their sharpest decline since 2009 in what has to be a worrying sign for the industry and UK economy in general. Brexit uncertainty hasn’t helped, but neither has the government’s failure to address the fall of consumer confidence in diesel cars.
Today we will see the Halifax house price index for December, while Wednesday sees the release of industrial, manufacturing and construction output for November. We will also see the balance of trade report for the same month that day.
