Good afternoon,
GBP declines continued yesterday for the third straight session yesterday against USD, seeing sterling trading at a new weekly low of 1.3570. The pound has managed to hold its own against EUR, continuing its push to nearly break through the 1.20 barrier into the afternoon.
Over 185K new UK jobs were created in December, despite concerns around the Omicron surge and its effect on the UK job market. This makes for a rise of 1,340,000 payrolled employees (+4.8%) compared with December 2020. This positive data released yesterday has provided the BoE with a continued positive outlook for the UK and could help to keep hopes high for 2nd rate hike in February.
A busy calendar day today will see base level inflation reading from the UK, Germany and Canada. UK yearly and monthly growth figures for December will be released early morning with the markets expecting a 5.2% yearly climb and a growth of 0.3% for the month. Any unexpectedly high readings out of the UK will likely provide future support for a February rate hike by the Bank of England and shake things up again for the GBP market.
Have a good day.
James Camp, Senior Relationship Manager. 
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