The pound rose to a new 18-month high against the euro yesterday, still boosted by the Bank of England’s monetary policy meeting last week. There are expectations that the BoE could taper policy and hike interest rates ahead of the European Central Bank, which has so far taken a more ‘dovish’ approach.
Data from Barclaycard showed that British consumer spending rose strongly in July, up 11.6% on pre-pandemic levels. British Retail Consortium said that spending in shops too increased by 6.4% in July year-on-year.
It’s a quiet day for data releases today, but tomorrow all eyes will be on GDP figures. GDP is expected to have grown by 4.8% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of this year.
