Retail Sales data was released today out of the United Kingdom and showed that retail sales rose more than anticipated according to a report by National Statistics. April’s retail sales increased by 0.9 percent following up a revised increase of 1.1 percent in March. March’s
On an annual basis, April’s retail sales were 2.6 percent above the April 2008 sales level following an annual increase of 1.5 percent in March. The monthly and yearly increases beat market forecasts that had expected a monthly increase of 0.5 percent and a yearly gain of 2.4 percent in April.
Contributing to the retail sales increase was a rise for predominantly non-food stores by 1.5 percent in April while sales in predominantly food stores increased by 0.5 per cent. Note: National Statistics has announced changes in the methodology in calculating the retail sales data in order to provide more accurate numbers. You can see the article here.
GBP Pound Sterling mixed in Currency Trading
The pound sterling has been mixed in currency trading today against some of the other major currencies. The pound fell sharply in the European trading session after the Standard & Poor’s rating agency changed its outlook on Britain’s debt from stable to negative. The British currency is lower today versus the US dollar, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and the euro while trading higher against the Canadian dollar.
The GBP/USD has fallen from the day’s opening exchange rate of 1.5787 at 00:00 GMT to trading at 1.5721 in the US session at 10:43am according to currency data from Oanda. The GBP/USD is climbing higher after falling to an intraday low of 1.5514 early this morning.
The euro has increased versus the pound as the EUR/GBP trades at the 0.8755 exchange rate after opening the day at 0.8733. The pound has fallen versus the yen as the GBP/JPY has declined from the 149.25 opening rate to trading later at 148.92 exchange rate.
The pound is also slightly lower against the Swiss franc as the GBP/CHF trades at 1.7341 after opening at 1.7360. Meanwhile, the pound has increased against the Canadian dollar as the GBP/CAD trades at 1.8011 after opening the day at the 1.7972 level.
GBP/USD Chart – The British Pound is trading lower today against the US Dollar in currency trading but is in the process of paring most of its losses and remains in an hourly uptrend versus the American currency.
