020 7898 0500Sterling pushed to a ten-month against the US dollar yesterday. The main catalyst came on the back of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) press statement which followed the interest rate decision being slightly more cautious than anticipated. Coupled with this, we saw a bucking of the trend with regards to disappointing data.
The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) monthly retail sales index increased to +22 in July from +12 in June. This is said to be largely because of the warm patch of weather and the purchasing of summer clothing. This is the highest reading since April.
Over the course of this week sterling has made some solid gains against the dollar, but is on the back foot against the euro. Data has been fairly tepid, with UK growth showing that the nation grew at a rather limp 0.3% in the second quarter of 2017. In addition, the International Monetary Fund said it expects UK growth to grow by 1.7% instead of its previous projection of 2%.
Looking to the day ahead, it’s a fairly quiet day in terms of data with just the nationwide house price index due to hit the wires.
