GBPUSD is trading downwards despite some positive statistics.
On Wednesday afternoon, the British Pound is retreating against the USD. The current quote for the instrument is 1.3181.
In the morning, the UK reported on the Nationwide HPI in June, which added 0.5% m/m. The reading exceeded expectations and was much stronger that in the previous month. On YoY, the indicator was 2.0% after being 2.4% in May.
In the comments, Nationwide says that the British households are under significant pressure from the fact that the country’s population is very careful when it comes to everyday expenses. At the same time, the domestic activity also remains rather reserved. All this taken together may influence the real estate market and prices.
The CBI Distributive Trades in the United Kingdom increased up to 32 points in June after being 11 points the month before and against the expected reading of 10 points. Such dynamic growth can be easily explained: the weather was very hot at the beginning of summer and the number of sales in the UK increased. Another reason is people’s interest in the royal; wedding. The CBI believes today’s reading indicates that the situation in retail sales has improved since the beginning of 2018. At that time, the sector was very weak for the entire first quarter.
It’s quite interesting that sales in June increased both online and offline, including durable goods.
In addition to that, the Bank of England published its Financial Stability Report. Apart from rather usual things, the document refers to increased risks for global financial stability. However, the regulator emphasized that British Banks were strong enough to handle the situation in case the Brexit talks became more complicated than expected.
Nevertheless, the Pound couldn’t find support in any of these numbers and remained weak.