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Sterling Update

• Posted by currencies in Bank of England, Brexit, Currency, Dollar, Economy, EUR, GBP, Sterling, UK, Uncategorised
• February 22, 2018
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The US Dollar strengthened last night, this was after the Fed meeting showed policymakers are confident in rising inflation and the need for interest rates to keep increasing.

The minutes also showed voting members, as well as the wider group of policymakers, had upgraded their forecasts for the economic outlook since December.

A bit of a rollercoaster ride for Sterling yesterday, coming under pressure on the slightly weaker-than-expected employment data (while wage growth was unchanged as expected).

Domestically, the second estimate of UK Q4 GDP is expected to be unrevised at 0.5%q/q, faster than the 0.3% average quarterly pace recorded in the other quarters of 2017.

Theresa May is getting together with cabinet ministers for talks at her Chequers country residence today aimed at thrashing out common ground on what Brexit should look like.

Ahead of the meeting, her government had to come out and deny it wanted an open-ended transition period – anathema to Brexiteers – after a draft official paper circulated saying the transition should take as long as needed.