Spring is in the air – but not necessarily for Pound

As we start to see some warmer weather in the UK at last, businesses have been counting the cost of the long cold snap – the British Retail Consortium last week said the number of people visiting shops was down 5.2% compared to last year, and the Federation of Small Businesses reckon the freeze cost UK businesses £174m. These figures will obviously not help the upcoming data which is due out in the UK, thereby also possibly affecting the Pound.

After a quiet week in the UK last week, we have several key pieces of news due out this week, starting with inflation tomorrow, then unemployment, Bank of England minutes and retail sales all out later in the week. These will all give clues as to the next direction for sterling, and with the crucial reading of Q1 GDP out in 10 days, markets may be jittery to any further clues pointing to the dreaded triple dip recession which will be confirmed or not with that GDP release.

We also have consumer inflation figures out in Europe, the USA and New Zealand tomorrow, all of which have the potential to move their respective rates.

Meanwhile rates for the Pound remain relatively good for those of you sending money abroad. If you are considering buying your currency for a future requirement, or locking into a rate before this week’s raft of data, talk to us at Currency Index and don’t forget that sterling is almost certainly still vulnerable to poor data releases and that prospect of another period of recession.