In a big week for economic data, the UK pound is mixed following today’s earlier releases. Pound drifted higher briefly, before falling against its low-beta counterparts, even while remaining higher against the euro.
UK mortgage approvals data was released earlier, indicating that things aren’t going quite as well as hoped. Expectations were for an increase in mortgage approvals of 597,000, but instead that number came in at 577,000. It was a bit disappointing to me. Additionally, net consumer credit came in at 0.5 billion pounds, lower than the expected 0.7 billion pounds.
This news indicates that the economic recovery in the United Kingdom remains sluggish. Many Forex traders are in wait and see mode. Mark Carney and the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will be meeting later this week and sharing policy insights. As a result, moves are somewhat constrained.
UK pound is lower against currencies like the dollar and the yen, but against a euro that continues to see doubtful progress, the pound is moving a bit higher. For the most part, analysts don’t expect a lot of big moves leading up to this week’s main events.
At 13:23 GMT GBP/USD is down to 1.5352 from the open at 1.5382. EUR/GBP is down to 0.8632 from the open at 0.8637. GBP/JPY is down to 150.2845 from the open at 150.8650.
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