The Great Britain pound was weak on Tuesday amid risk aversion on the Forex market. Domestic macroeconomic data was not doing the sterling any favors either.
Like-for-like retail sales reported by British Retail Consortium fell 1.6% in June, year-on-year. That is compared to the drop by 1.5% predicted by economists and the decline by 3.0% registered in May. Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive at BRC, blamed the Brexit for the underwhelming data:
Overall, the picture is bleak: rising real wages have failed to translate into higher spending as ongoing Brexit uncertainty led consumers to put off non-essential purchases.
Businesses and the public desperately need clarity on Britainâs future relationship with the EU. The continued risk of a No Deal Brexit is harming consumer confidence and forcing retailers to spend hundreds of millions of pounds putting in place mitigations â this represents time and resources that would be better spent improving customer experience and prices. It is vital that the next Prime Minister can find a solution that avoids a No Deal Brexit on 31st October, just before the busy Black Friday and Christmas periods.
GBP/USD dropped from 1.2513 to 1.2461 as of 23:42 GMT today, touching the low of 1.2439 intraday. EUR/GBP climbed from 0.8959 to 0.8992, and its daily high of 0.9002 was the highest level since the big slump on January 11.
If you have any questions, comments, or opinions regarding the Great Britain Pound, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.
