The pound managed a modest recovery against the “risk-on” currencies – those favoured in times of economic and political stress – including the US dollar and euro, as worries over the power of Omicron eased.
It fell against the main commodity-backed currencies, however, as Chinese imports were boosted by nearly a third compared to last November.
Yesterday’s data included a recovery in UK new car sales to 1.7%, which reversed the recent trend in losses but is still far down on the usual November figure, with the shortage of semi-conductors being blamed for a shortage of supply.
This morning so far we’ve seen UK retail sales bounce back compared to last November, according to British Retail Consortium (BRC) figures, and the Halifax house price index has shown an 8.2% increase nationally.
