Well, That Didn't Last Long Did It
The pound enjoyed a brief half an hour or so of relative euphoria this morning, hitting an eight month high of $1.6746 against the dollar on bullish talk of risk appetite and increasing UK house prices.
But the final reading of first quarter GDP showing the lowest quarterly growth since 1958 of -2.4% down from -1.9% - quickly put paid to all of that.
By noon the pound was back under the cosh, falling to $1.6585 against the dollar and 1.1740 against the euro from an earlier high of 1.1849.
The notion that we are seeing the pound become overvalued is backed by the weak growth numbers including a 1.3% drop in household spending and exports falling for a fourth quarter by 6.9%.
But the final reading of first quarter GDP showing the lowest quarterly growth since 1958 of -2.4% down from -1.9% - quickly put paid to all of that.
By noon the pound was back under the cosh, falling to $1.6585 against the dollar and 1.1740 against the euro from an earlier high of 1.1849.
The notion that we are seeing the pound become overvalued is backed by the weak growth numbers including a 1.3% drop in household spending and exports falling for a fourth quarter by 6.9%.
