Dwindling Hopes of August BoE Interest Rate Hike Push GBP/USD Exchange Rate Down
The Pound (GBP) has tumbled in trading against the US Dollar (USD) today, hitting the lowest exchange rate since early September last year.
This significant deterioration for the Pound is down to the latest UK retail sales data, which has shown greater-than-expected declines during June.
The concern among GBP traders is that along with this week’s poor wage growth and inflation rate figures, there is now not an argument for the Bank of England (BoE) to raise interest rates in August.
In early June an August BoE rate hike had seemed almost guaranteed, but a string of poor UK data releases has since unsettled economists and the odds of a rate hike next month have been downgraded.
The Pound’s difficulties in trading against the US Dollar could continue on Friday, when UK government borrowing data will be released.
This is tipped to show an expansion of the already-sizable government borrowing deficit for June, which could cement GBP/USD exchange rate losses going into the weekend.
US Dollar to Pound (USD/GBP) Exchange Rate Up 0.7% on Historic Jobless Claims Drop
On the other side of the currency pairing, the US Dollar has been in high demand lately thanks to the latest jobs market data.
July’s initial jobless claims reading has printed at the lowest level since 1969, indicating that a historically low number of people are claiming unemployment benefits.
The positive effect of this data has been amplified by recent remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who said that with management the US jobs market could remain stable over the next few years.
As well as being good news in its own right, the lower jobless claims figure also increases the chances that there will be another Fed interest rate hike in the coming months.
Before then, however, the US Dollar could next be affected by a trio of PMI estimates for July which are out on Tuesday.
The composite and services sector readings are tipped to show slowing economic activity for the initial estimates, but on the plus side, the manufacturing sector is predicted to have expanded during the current month.
These preliminary figures aren’t set in stone, so it is possible that the US Dollar will make unfettered gains on Tuesday if they all three PMI readings show higher levels of activity.
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