Friday 20 January 2017

The pound dips after weak retail sales reading.

Since my post yesterday we have seen a one cent swing for the GBP/USD cross, with the currency pair bouncing between $1.2275 and $1.2375.

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Overnight the dollar fell as markets waited in anticipation for President-elect Donald Trump to be sworn in later on today, weakening the dollar and helping to push GBP/USD back to $1.2375.

However, the pound has been unable to hold onto the ground it has made, after weaker than forecast UK retail sales figures were released this morning.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales had fallen by 1.9% in December, the biggest monthly drop for over four and a half years.

The data release had an immediate impact on the value of the pound, and with sterling tumbling across the board the GBP/USD cross now finds itself trading $1.2270.

GBP/USD chart.

 
 
 
With Donald Trump set to become the 45th President of the United States this afternoon, we could see some heightened volatility in the currency markets over the course of the day.
 
As I have mentioned before investors are concerned about what Trumps presidency will actually mean for the U.S. economy. If he fails to deliver his promise to cut taxes and increase fiscal spending, it could prevent the Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates and we could see the dollar weaken across the board.
 

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