Pound gains against a weakening Euro
- Posted by currencies in Bank of England, Brexit, Currency, Dollar, Economy, EUR, GBP, Sterling, UK, Uncategorised
- November 21, 2017
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The euro continues to weaken this morning, continuing from yesterday’s biggest fall in nearly a as investors shrugged aside concerns of any fallout from the German political deadlock for now.
Elsewhere, the dollar stuck close to a one-week high against a basket of currencies. The U.S. data calendar is relatively sparse ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen scheduled to give a speech later today. Minutes from the Fed’s November meeting will be released on Wednesday.
Britain’s budget gap unexpectedly widened last month, underscoring finance minister Philip Hammond’s challenge as he juggles calls for more spending in his budget tomorrow with the prospect of weaker economic growth ahead.
The deficit, excluding state-run banks, stood at 8.0 billion pounds, up 6.9 percent compared with October 2016, the Office for National Statistics said this morning.
Rising debt costs, linked to Britain’s higher inflation since the Brexit vote, were a driver of the shortfall.
The budget shortfall was bigger than a median forecast of 7.0 billion pounds in a Reuters poll of economists.
However, in the first seven months of the financial year, the deficit has fallen by 9.6 percent to 38.5 billion pounds, the ONS said.
That still leaves Hammond on target to beat a target of 58.3 billion pounds for the 2017/18 financial year.
The pound has strengthened against a weaker euro and dollar, speak to us today in regard to your upcoming currency needs as we may see the rates drop off tomorrow with the budget at 12:30.
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