The pound climbed to the highest in two months against the dollar after congressional leaders raced to push through a compromise to raise the U.S. debt limit before a threatened default tomorrow. Sterling reached the strongest level in almost two weeks versus the euro. The deal reached last night will raise the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion and slash government spending by $2.4 trillion or more. The House plans votes today and the Senate may follow suit. A U.K. manufacturing gauge based on a survey by Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply probably fell to 51 from 51.3 in June, according to the median prediction of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Halifax, the mortgage unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, may say this week that house prices were stagnant in July, according to a separate survey. The pound rose 0.1 percent to $1.6438 as of 7:34 a.m. in London after reaching $1.6476, the most since June 1. It was little changed at 87.67 pence per euro. It earlier touched 87.33 pence, the strongest level since July 18. Sterling has fallen 8.2 percent in the last 12 months, making it the second-worst performer among 10 developed-market currencies after the U.S. dollar, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes. To contact the reporter on this story: Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh News at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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