GDP Revised Down

Sterling lost value across all major currencies this morning as UK GDP was revised down.

The pound was trading lower against most currencies as trading opened today ahead of a raft of UK data and continued to fall following the data releases. Total business investment actually came in above expectations at -3.3% month on month compared to the expected -5.4% and up 1.6% compared to -1.9% for the year on year figure. This did little to help sterling though as the GDP figures were revised down.

This was the final reading for Q4 2011, having had two previous readings in January and February. The expectation was for a final reading of -0.2% for QoQ and 0.7% growth for the YoY but in fact the revision came in at -0.3% for QoQ and 0.5% for the YoY.

This shows growth in the UK is slower than expected which will fuel the argument for further quantitative easing from the Bank of England in the coming months and is generally negative for the pound. The result for today is a half percentage point drop against the Euro and US Dollar as well as losses against most other major currencies.

Tomorrow could bring further turbulence as the Bank of England publish their credit report as well as money supply and mortgage lending figures are released.