Pound Tumbles as UK Businesses Concerned over Impact of Brexit

Published: 23 Aug at 4 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Germany,

Sterling

The Pound (GBP) fell against the majority of its peers in trade today as the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) released its latest employer confidence data.

The report suggests that firms are increasingly reluctant to invest and employ new workers in the face of rising Brexit uncertainty, with many businesses worrying that they will also lose access to the pool of talent from the EU following the UK’s exit.

Meanwhile investors will be focused on the release of the UK’s latest GDP estimate tomorrow as they look for conformation that the UK’s economic growth picked up in the second quarter.

Euro

The Pound Euro (GBP EUR) exchange rate tumbled by around half a cent on Wednesday following the publishing of the Eurozone’s latest PMI stats.

Markets were particularly impressed by the release of Germany’s manufacturing PMI as the index rocketed up from 58.1 to 59.4 in August, easily outpacing initial expectations it would slow to 57.7 and helping to quash suggestions that German economic activity is beginning to slow down in the second half of the year.

US Dollar

Sterling continued to downtrend against the US Dollar (USD) today as concerns grow over the impact of Brexit on the British economy.

However the ‘Greenback’ was forced to cede some ground by the afternoon as data showed an unexpected decline in new home sales as they fell from 630,000 to 571,000 in July.

The US Dollar may attempt to claw back these losses tomorrow however following the publishing the existing home sales data, with analysts forecasting the sales will have rebounded by 0.9% last month after previously contracting by 1.8% in June.

Canadian Dollar

The Pound Canadian Dollar (GBP CAD) exchange rate’s attempts to rally overnight on Tuesday were brought to a swift end today as the REC employment report revealed that UK businesses are becoming increasingly gloomy over their growth prospects post-Brexit.

Australian Dollar

Sterling also found its attempts to advance again the Australian Dollar (AUD) cut short on Thursday as negative Brexit sentiment offset an overnight fall in commodity prices.

New Zealand Dollar

The Pound New Zealand Dollar (GBP NZD) exchange rate proved to be the solitary source of gains for Sterling on Wednesday meanwhile as the ‘Kiwi’ tumbled after the New Zealand government lowered its growth forecasts in its most recent finance update.

As of Wednesday, 23rd August 2017, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.084, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.2803, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.6189, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.77, and GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.6066.

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