The Pound: too much pressure. Overview for 15.11.2018

On Thursday, GBPUSD is trading downwards close to its two weeks lows.

The British Pound is falling against the USD on Thursday afternoon. The current quote for the instrument is 1.2804.

The statistics published today showed that the Retail Sales in the United Kingdom lost 0.5% m/m in October after losing 0.4% m/m in the previous month and against the expected reading of +0.2% m/m. The actual reading is the lowest over the last six month, mostly due to the weather factor: with the daytime temperature being higher than on average, people put off buying seasonal clothes and footwear. In addition to that, the indicator is still influenced by the complicated summer and many British people are very cautious about extra expenses in anticipation of the Brexit. 

The components of the report show that the major contribution to the decline was made by fuel along with household equipment and electronic domestic appliances.  

The Retail Sales report was the reason why the Pound declined. 

Investors are very closely following the Brexit talks. Yesterday, it became known that the British Cabinet of Ministers finally approved the preliminary Brexit agreement. Before approving the agreement, policymakers were arguing and discussing its nuances for several hours. The next move is the Parliament’s approval of the agreement and these discussions are not expected to be very “furious”.