The pound dollar exchange rate is 0.240% higher with 1 GBP = 1.6322 USD. The pound euro exchange rate is 0.253% lower on the day with 1 GBP = 1.1304 EUR. The pound Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.429% lower with 1 GBP = 1.5546 AUD. "The US dollar was the outperformer in yesterday’s session. Nerves jangled in the US and European stock markets and investors fled to the safety of the greenback, though it softened up somewhat in the Asian session. Sterling extended Wednesday’s gains, but this was all a prelude to today’s major risk events," says a morning note from exchange rate analyst Richard Driver at UK money transfer company Caxton Fx. The UK’s revised second quarter GDP figure is not expected to deviate from the initial 0.2% figure. The US preliminary GDP figure is announced this afternoon, but the main event for the day and indeed the week is Bernanke’s Jackson Hole speech at 15:00. After scaling heights up at €1.1550, the pound to euro has now erased its August gains, trading two and a half cents lower. "Movements in the currency markets have been dictated more by risk on/risk off plays in recent sessions, rather than fundamental data. It was little surprise then that yesterday’s poor German business climate and eurozone industrial new orders data failed to hinder the single currency yesterday," says Driver. MPC policymaker Martin Weale is due to talk this afternoon but he is unlikely to tell us anything we do not already know. The UK economy is weak, but it is not panic stations and the BoE are still firmly in wait and see mode. This pair is trading over a cent lower near €1.13, and sterling may struggle to bounce back today.

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