GBP/USD near Four Year High on U.K. Economic Growth Bets

The pound advanced for a fourth day against the dollar, approaching a four-year high, as investors added to bets on faster U.K. economic growth.

Sterling gained versus the euro even as U.K. gross domestic product accelerated in the first quarter at a slower pace than analysts expected. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said “the recovery is starting to broaden out” and described policy makers as “prudently optimistic,” according to a report on the Bristol Post’s website today. Central bank official Ian McCafferty said “chances of a fully sustained recovery” were at the “highest” for a long time.

“Sterling developed an initial negative response to GDP given that it had come in slightly below market consensus expectations,” said Ian Stannard, the head of European currency strategy at Morgan Stanley in London. “Despite this slight disappointment, the overall growth picture in the U.K. remains relatively robust. We expect the pound to remain supported near-term against the dollar.”

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.