The British pound sterling appears weak against the US dollar. The current GBPUSD exchange rate stands at 1.2080.
The US dollar has considerably strengthened its position over the last two days, which had a negative impact on other currencies, including the GBP.
The market is gearing up for the release of a large amount of significant statistics in the US, with the Q3 GDP parameters to be published today and the core PCE to be announced tomorrow. In this context, demand for a safe-haven asset is growing, pushing up the US dollar.
The statistics released recently in the UK came out mixed. The CBI industrial trends orders declined to -26 points in October from -18 points earlier. The preliminary manufacturing PMI increased to 45.2 points in October from the previous 44.3 points while the services PMI dropped to 49.2 points from 49.3 points previously.
It is worth noting that even with high UK inflation and rather tight parameters of consumer demand, businesses maintain their activity at a fairly high level. This is a positive signal.