Britain Climbs Out Of Recession

Thursday saw the UK officially come out of recession as the GDP for Q3 2012 showed growth of 1%, a better figure than the expected 0.6% growth. Having had 3 consecutive quarters of negative growth it was a welcome relief, especially for the Pound which has been struggling across the board recently most notably against the Euro. As the results came out we saw an instant half cent gain against the Euro and the US dollar as well as gains against a basket of other currencies. Over the course of the day the gains increased with GBP/EUR ending a cent up on the day.

The Olympics and Jubilee are all considerations in the growth for UK economy so sceptics are dubious how well we would be doing had it not been for these factors so it will be interesting to see if the Pound can build on these gains. As the end of the month closes in there is little key data but in a week’s time as November kicks in we start to see the usual flurry of data releases like the manufacturing and services PMI which will be key to see if there is growth in these sectors too and of course the Bank of England policy meeting and the answer to the question over whether more QE will be set. Rumours were rife we would see a further round but Mervyn King’s recent speech dampened these somewhat helping the Pound make gains earlier in the week.

There is a lack of any real data today in the UK or Europe so it will be down to investor sentiment to move the markets until GDP is released in the States this afternoon. As we know from recent experience what happens in the US has an impact of the UK and Europe so keep in touch with your broker at Currency Index if you have a requirement coming up to make sure you don’t get caught out.