Sterling continues to hold strong

Yesterday was relatively quiet in terms of data with the focus being only on the US who posted an array of stats over the afternoons trading causing no huge surprises. The main release of Retail Sales showed an improvement from last month figures. Retail Sales rose to 0.6% posting 0.2% better than markets predicted but failed to make any real changes to the general economic growth for Q1 for the US and in turn not giving the Dollar enough to retract its current trend.

Lots of data out today although the majority of it is not typical market movers. The ones to watch for today are for the UK, posting Average Earnings which is expected to improve, and Unemployment Rate with is expected to remain at 4.3% both due at 9:30 am. These releases are certainly one to take note of as a negative outcome here could well put some pressure back on the Pound, which could stall or even reverse its current upward run against the Euro and Dollar. Later in the afternoon the US post Industrial Production results which are expected to fall from 0.9% to 0.3% and spelling further trouble for the US.

Currently trading at the best levels seen since May last year against the Euro and the best we have seen against the Dollar in over 2 months, those who have Sterling in hand might want to consider your options and secure a portion of your funds while these trading levels are available. They could be short lived as tomorrow the UK is set to post the latest Inflation figures. Although forecast to remain the same at 2.7% any change here could cause some movement. Inflation has been dropping in recent months and another drop could spell some trouble for the Pound. If you have an upcoming transfer due, and do not want to risk missing out on the current highs of the year, it could certainly be worth dropping us a call early doors and place a Stop Loss order ahead of the releases to avoid the risk of rates dropping if the any results don’t appear as expected.