The Great Britain pound jumped today as UK retail sales surprised Forex market participants, being far better than most optimistic expectations. It is expected that next week’s macroeconomic data will also be good, allowing the sterling to recover after the decline at the start of this year.
UK retail sales demonstrated very strong growth by 2.6 percent in December from the previous month, which was much bigger than forecast 0.5 percent. The report said:
All store types saw an increase in the quantity bought but perhaps most notable is the record month-on-month increase in the quantity bought at department stores of 8.7%.
The pound was struggling at the beginning of this year. It was not surprising, considering how long the currency was rising in the previous year and a correction was due. The outlook for the sterling is positive as experts predict that the unemployment report next week will be supportive for the currency.
GBP/USD jumped from 1.6352 to 1.6440 as of 15:22 GMT today after falling to 1.6308 earlier. GBP/JPY was up from 170.62 to 171.41, while EUR/GBP sank from 0.8328 to 0.8256.
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