The pound’s falls appear to have stabilised and a modest recovery is underway, rising by around 0.1-0.2% yesterday against the euro, Swiss franc and Australian and Canadian dollar.
There are two reports on consumer spending in the UK today. Figures released by Barclaycard found that consumer spending slowed at the start of the year. However, according to the British Retail Consortium retail sales increased by 8.1% in January compared to a year earlier, as shoppers shrugged off pre-Christmas worries over Omicron. More interestingly, this was against an expectation of a 0.6% fall.
Yesterday we heard that house prices, according to the Halifax Building Society, had risen by 9.7% year-on-year, but the expected rise had been larger. They had risen just 0.3% in January against an expectation of 0.8%.
For the big event of the week, however, we have to wait until the preliminary reading for GDP on Friday.
