GBPUSD updated the lows after the UK released Retail Sales statistics.
The Pound sterling dropped against the USD on Friday. The current quote for the instrument is 1.2908.
The new bottom, 1.2898. is the lowest since 3 November 2020.
The key trigger for this was the Retail Sales Report published by the United Kingdom earlier. In March, the indicator lost 1.4% m/m after dropping 0.5% m/m in February and against the expected decline of 0.3% m/m. On YoY, it showed 0.9% after being 7.2% in the previous month and against market expectations of 2.8%.
The Core Retail Sales lost 1.1% m/m against the expected decline of 0.4% m/m.
The numbers were an unpleasant surprise for the Pound. A slump in retail sales may be caused by a long term delivery interruptions issue and a decline in consumption. A drop in household spending may, in its turn, hurt industrial production, new orders, and finally, the country’s GDP.
The British economy, which hasn’t completely recovered after the exhausting Brexit procedure and the coronavirus pandemic, is now facing new difficulties. It’s bad news for the GBP, which may force the British currency to continue falling.
