The Great Britain pound fell today versus the euro after the retail sales unexpectedly slowed in August, increasing the concern for Britain’s economy. The currency rose against the US dollar after it slumped earlier.
The Office for National Statistics reported that between July and August the retail sales volume decreased by 0.5 percent. That’s compared with the growth by 0.8 percent in July and the forecast increase by 0.3 percent. The slowdown of the sales reinforced the concern that the budget spending cuts, performed by the government, would cripple the nation’s economy.
Not everybody convinced that Britain’s economy is that weak, though. The survey among the UK consumers showed that the inflation expected to increase by 3.4 percent through the year, compared with the results of the previous survey, which showed the 3.3 percent growth was expected. The higher inflation expectations make the analysts to say that the Bank of England wouldn’t resume the buying of the bonds, though it may keep the interest rates unchanged.
GBP/USD traded at 1.5631, near its opening level of 1.5622, as of 19:34 GMT today after it slumped to the intraday low of 1.5538. EUR/GBP went up from 0.8327 to 0.8367, following the advance to the intraday high of 0.8402.
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