Retail sales better than expected

This morning’s UK retail sales figures were better than expected, showing a 2.8% increase in the 12 months to April.

Sterling found some strength this morning, and combined with weak US manufacturing numbers this afternoon, has recovered nearly a cent against the US Dollar.

Unfortunately the Euro had a rally of its own during the afternoon, leaving rates for buying Euros back where they started at the beginning of the day.

With little important data out tomorrow (except in Canada), we are not expecting any improvements in the outloook for sterling this week.