Excel Currencies Blog

GDP figures released yesterday morning showed that the UK economy grew by just 0.1% in November. Budget uncertainty and disruptive weather have been to blame for the stagnating environment the UK currently finds itself in. Sterling moved lower on the release as expected.

Then earlier today, more depressing news which once again saw £ fall..

UK retail sales for December showed a -0.3% decline, in what is usually a buoyant month for obvious reasons. A modest +0.4% was the consensus, but it seems consumers were hibernating instead of spending.

This data is the latest to point to the significant slowdown in economic growth that has followed since Labour came into power. The barrage of negativity has seen confidence all-round plummet and consumer activity is now suffering too. 

This means the BoE are extremely likely to act on interest rates next month, which may or may not already be fixed into GBP's current price. It's difficult to see where Sterling improves from here, so it's a tough 'do you stick or do you twist' situation for anyone with large exchanges in the pipeline.

Let's see what President Trump does or says next week for some direction..