Sterling Holds Firm Ahead of Key UK Data Releases
The UK's sterling currency has held firm as investors await key economic data releases this week. The labour market report, covering June unemployment and average earnings, is a closely watched indicator of the UK economy's performance.
The recent GDP figures showed another solid quarter of growth despite ongoing headwinds from higher energy prices and supply chain disruption. This helped support sterling, pushing it to multi-month highs against the US dollar.
Attention now turns to several key UK releases, including CPI inflation and retail sales figures for July. Markets will pay particular attention to any signs of weakness in payrolled employment and vacancy numbers, which could have greater significance than continued strength in contested Labour Force Survey measures or a modest fall in the unemployment rate.