It was a rare good day for the pound, the currency receiving not one but TWO pieces of positive news as the session went on.
Sterling was teed up for a rebound by the morning’s retail sales reading. Though the previous month’s figure was revised down to -0.6%, the number for June absolutely smashed expectations, at 1.0% against the forecast -0.3% decline.
Helping cement the pound’s (admittedly slight) comeback this afternoon was the success of an amendment in the House of Commons designed to further complicate any attempt by the next Prime Minister to prorogue Parliament in order to force through a no deal Brexit.
With multiple high profile abstentions and rebellions, the amendment passed by 41 votes, and would require fortnightly reports from the government on the efforts to restore the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. The report would then have to be debated within 5 calendar days, in theory ensuring the need for Commons sessions in the run up to October 31st.
Though in no way an ironclad insurance against a no deal Brexit, it does make things more difficult for Boris Johnson – OK, or Jeremy Hunt – when he becomes Prime Minister next week, if only because it reaffirms the number of Tories willing to break the party line to avoid crashing out of the EU without an agreement in place.
All this meant the pound was up 0.4% against both the dollar and the euro, allowing it to cross $1.248 and €1.112 respectively, putting a bit of distance between the currency and its recent 27- and 6-month lows.
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