020 7898 0500Sterling struggled throughout the week following the announcement of a referendum on UK membership of the European Union. With confirmation of a June 23rd referendum date closely followed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson speaking out in favour of an exit, sterling was always going to have a tough week as investors sought the relative security of the euro (Eur) and US dollar (Usd).
With little positive economic data released throughout the week, and Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney warning of the risks a ‘Brexit’ could pose to UK economic growth, the pound weakened throughout the first half of the week. There has, however, been some support found after falling to fresh 14-month lows against the euro, and a new seven-year low versus the US dollar. Although economic data has been largely overlooked this week, economic growth of 0.5% throughout the previous quarter did help sterling to arrest the downward trend on Thursday.
A quiet day across markets will see attention turn to the US, with the preliminary estimate of growth over the previous quarter.
