UK Retail Sales Rebound, Pound Steadies

Talking Points

- UK retail sales rose by 0.6% month/month in June after a revised 1.1% fall in May.

- That will give some ammunition to the hawks on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee and help to underpin the Pound.

Check out our brand new Trading Guides: they’re free and have just been updated for the third quarter of 2017

UK retail sales increased by 0.6% month/month in June after May’s 1.1% fall, suggesting that the important consumer sector is now helping to boost the UK’s sluggish economic growth. That will lead to further calls for a tightening of monetary policy, although the overall weakness of the economy and falling inflation mean that a withdrawal of stimulus is still many months away.

Retail sales were expected to increase by only 0.4% and, adding to the brighter picture, the drop in May was revised to 1.1% rather than the 1.2% fall previously reported.

In response, GBPUSD steadied after weakening earlier in the session to below the psychologically important 1.30 level.

Chart: GBPUSD Five-Minute Timeframe (July 20, 2017)

Chart by IG

The improvement in retail sales last month could help lift UK inflation, which fell by more than expected to 2.6% from 2.9%, according to the latest data that caused a sharp selloff in the Pound.

--- Written by Martin Essex, Analyst and Editor

To contact Martin, email him at martin.essex@ig.com

Follow Martin on Twitter @MartinSEssex

For help to trade profitably, check out the IG Client Sentiment data

And you can learn more by listening to our regular trading webinars; here’s a list of what’s coming up