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UK Retail Sales better than expected

• Posted by currencies in Bank of England, Brexit, Currency, Dollar, Economy, EUR, GBP, Sterling, UK, Uncategorised
• August 17, 2017
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Pound held its ground this morning ahead of a third day of monthly data on the economy that comes amid growing noise around the conduct of Brexit negotiations with Europe.

Sterling fell to its weakest against the euro in 10 months on Wednesday and is trading around a five-week minimum against the dollar. It has been hit by a collapse of expectations for a rise in Bank of England interest rates over the next year.

Retail Sales data came in a little better than expected by economists, rising to 1.5% year on year when the expectation was 1.4%. However, this done little to help the strength of the pound.

Sky News, citing unidentified sources, reported on Wednesday that Britain and the European Union may have to delay talks on their post-Brexit relationship until December as sufficient progress may not be made on the first stage of talks.

The government’s Brexit department, however, said Britain is confident it would make enough progress by October to move to the next phase of the talks.

Separately, a survey of chief financial officers showed a majority of businesses are yet to change their strategic planning due to Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.