Small recoveries for Sterling ahead of Retail Sales

During a very quiet day of data yesterday, Sterling was able to make very small recoveries from its recent losses against its major pairs. The pound was up around 0.3% against the Euro and US Dollar during yesterday’s session hitting a 10 day high against the greenback but still close to the low of the last few months against the single currency.

Following Wednesday’s US Inflation figures, the Dollar has dropped back again against the pound and Euro, although these movements could be limited and short-lived as the market continues to forecast another rate hike in the US as early as next month, and we could feasibly start to see this expectation being priced in during the coming weeks.

The day ahead is focussed once again on the UK with the latest Retail Sales figures for January. Last month Retails Sales saw a contraction of 1.5% despite it being the month of Xmas, and this time analysts are hopeful of a return to small growth of 0.5% with January sales expected to contribute to this. However these forecasts can historically be widely incorrect, and given Sterling is relatively flat at the moment, we may need to see some surprise results for any bigger movement on the market today. Next week we have unemployment and GDP figures for the UK that will all but wrap up the data release for February. Better buying opportunities are proving to be short-lived in the current market, so if you have an up and coming currency requirement make sure you are in close contact with your broker to stay informed.