The US Q1 GDP didn’t have the same impact as its UK counterpart this Friday, though it did make sterling a bit more miserable.
Coming in at 2.3% at the annualised rate, America’s first quarter figure was a sharp – if typical – drop-off from the fourth quarter’s 2.9%, but enough of an improvement on analysts’ estimates that the figure didn’t substantially change the pre-existing trading landscape as the afternoon went on. That left the Dow Jones with a rather uninspiring open, the index slipping under 24300 to take the momentum out of its 2-day rebound.
No, it was the UK GDP figure that remained the key driver of things this Friday. A deeply disheartened pound, lost without the prospect of a May rate hike from the Bank of England, saw its losses against the dollar expand to 1.1%, sending sterling below $1.377 for the first time since the beginning of March.
Against the euro, meanwhile, it shed 0.9%, a move that sent it back to where it was at the start of the week. The FTSE, as relieved at the apparent lack of rate hike as the pound is disappointed, itself shot up 0.9%, crossing 7480 as it cemented a fresh 12 week peak.
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