Thanks to the weak USD, GBPUSD has been rising for the second consecutive trading session.
The British Pound is trying to benefit from the weakness of the American currency. The current quote for the instrument is 1.3966.
The statistics published earlier showed that the CBI Realized Sales was 20 points in April after being -45 points in March and against the expected reading of 9 points. A boost in retail sales is an excellent signal for the economy, even if it a correction of the previous drawdown.
The BRC Shop Price Index improved a little bit but is still looking unimpressive: the indicator showed -1.3% y/y in April after being -2.4% y/y the month before.
Interesting comments come from HSBC Holdings, which believes that the Bank of England will start tightening its monetary policy as early as May. This is about the May meeting of the British regulator, where it may announce a partial closure of the QE program by decreasing the program volume. At the same time, the BoE may improve its economic outlook and reduce short-term expectations on inflation. As of now, the BoE is purchasing bonds worth £1.48B in three auctions, in other words – about £4.4B every week.
It’s quite funny how the rhetoric of global economic experts can change in a short period of time – early in the year, they were arguing if the British regulator might revise its benchmark rate downwards but now it’s all about tightening.