Sterling has rebounded over the past 24 hours. However, for GBP/USD this had all the hallmarks of a ‘dead cat bounce’ following a sustained collapse which briefly took it below even the early-Covid dip of March 2020 to its weakest since the mid-1980s.
Yesterday we heard that new car sales rose by 1.2% year-on-year in August, reversing five months of declines. However, PMI fell below expectations at 50.9 for services and 49.6 for composite. Construction PMI will be released shortly.
A key member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Catherine Mann, spoke yesterday and called for “forceful action” on rates to control inflation. She will have her chance to vote on that on Thursday week, when a 0.5% increase in interest rates is widely expected.
This morning we have heard that retail sales in the UK were 0.5% higher than in August 2021. However, clothing sales were very disappointing. Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the British Retail Consortium, said: “For the first time in recent months, clothing sales were sluggish as summer events ended, and parents held back on back-to-school spending.”
Tomorrow and Thursday there will be house price data, but potentially of more interest will be further signs of the Truss government’s economic and fiscal policy.
GBP/EUR past year
