Sterling steady as UK growth confirmed

Seeing the UK return to growth, albeit modest, has steadied the Pound but not given it any kind of filip. Sadly, this morning’s RICS house price balance hasn’t made any real change to that situation. Although it is the best reading since November 2022, the minus 10 reading is still reflective of a property market that is yet to properly recover. Nonetheless, the Pound is still around USD 1.28 and EUR 1.17. Data-wise, there is nothing more from the UK today but there is a slew of data from the US, so we will see some lively GBP/USD action.

USD traders await barrage of data

After a few quiet days, the US Dollar will pick up in volatility this afternoon when we see the release of weekly employment numbers and retail sales data amongst other things. The markets are expecting a bounce back in retail sales and relatively high jobless claims. So the USD should weaken a tad as traders work out how that will impact the Fed’s thinking on US interest rates. As at this morning, GBP/USD is $1.28 and EUR/USD is in a flat pattern at $1.0940.