Tuesday 19th August 2014
The Pound has fallen further today, as this morning’s UK inflation figures were worse than expected. Inflation is a key indicator of when interest rates may rise. If the level of inflation gets higher than 2%, then this increases the case for the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
We were expecting the figure to come in at 1.8%, however it was actually slightly lower than this at 1.6%. The lower number eases the pressure on the Bank of England to consider near-term interest rate rises and pushes the balance more in favour of a delay into next year.
So that is what has caused the Pound to fall today, as the charts below shows. We are now sat at a 4 month low for Pound/Dollar rates, and a 3 month low for Pound/Euro exchange rates:
What next for Pound/Euro & Pound/Dollar rates?
Tomorrow morning we will see the recent minutes to the Bank of England’s decision to hold interest rates. These will show if any of the 9 members voted for a rate hike and what was discussed.
I think there is a good chance at least one of the members voted to raise rates. If this is the case, I would expect the Pound to gain. If none of the members voted for a rise, then we could see the Pound fall even further.
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