GBP/USD Drops to 1.6820 as Data Disappoints

The pound declined for a fourth week against the dollar, the longest losing streak in more than a year, as U.K. economic data from manufacturing output to consumer confidence was weaker than economists predicted.

Sterling dropped to the lowest level in seven weeks versus the dollar after data showed the U.S. economy grew more than analysts forecast and employers added more than 200,000 jobs for the sixth consecutive month, boosting expectations for higher Federal Reserve interest rates. Britain’s currency depreciated against the euro for the first week since the period ended July 11. U.K. government bonds were little changed.

“Sterling declined because of various data results that have been uniformly disappointing this week but not dire,” said Peter Frank, global head of Group-of-10 and Asia currency strategy at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA in London. “We have a forecast for a mild underperformance of sterling in a short-to-medium term period where we think the market has got ahead of itself on how much growth there is likely to be in U.K. economy and what the reaction function will be of the Bank of England.”

Bloomberg

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