Home UK retail sales falls 0.5% – GBP/USD slides
Forex News Today: Daily Trading News

UK retail sales falls 0.5% – GBP/USD slides

A bitter disappointment for the pound: UK retail sales fall 0.5% instead of rising 0.4%. The revision is also negative with 0.6% instead of 0.7% originally reported.  Year over year, we have a rise of only 4.2% against 5.4%. Core sales rose only 0.2% instead of +0.4% with y/y up 5% below 5.4% expected.

GBP/USD is extending its falls below 1.50 and reaches 1.4965.

UK retail sales were expected to rise by 0.4% in March after a strong rise of 0.7% in February. Data points are becoming more sensitive as the elections get close.

GBP/USD was sliding below 1.50 towards the publication due to a stronger USD.

Here is the preview: trading the retail sales with GBPUSD. This monthly health check of the British consumer always moves markets.

At the  same time,  the Public Sector Net Borrowing figure was released. It was expected to show a rise to 6.6 billion from 6.2 billion beforehand. This has a more significant political impact, but markets-wise, retail sales carry more weight. The actual number is 6.7 billion.

Sterling had a sterling performance in recent days,  mostly boosted  by the relatively upbeat MPC meeting minutes.

More:  GBP: Trading UK Elections – ING

Yohay Elam

Yohay Elam

Yohay Elam: Founder, Writer and Editor I have been into forex trading for over 5 years, and I share the experience that I have and the knowledge that I've accumulated. After taking a short course about forex. Like many forex traders, I've earned a significant share of my knowledge the hard way. Macroeconomics, the impact of news on the ever-moving currency markets and trading psychology have always fascinated me. Before founding Forex Crunch, I've worked as a programmer in various hi-tech companies. I have a B. Sc. in Computer Science from Ben Gurion University. Given this background, forex software has a relatively bigger share in the posts.