BLBG:U.K. Pound Reaches 10-Week Low Against Dollar Before GDP Report
The pound touched a 10-week low versus the dollar before a report economists said will show the U.K. economy shrank in the first quarter, matching an initial government estimate.
Sterling slipped versus 10 of its 16 major peers after Bank of England Executive Director Andrew Bailey said Europe’s debt crisis is the biggest threat to U.K. financial stability. European leaders clashed over joint debt sales at a summit yesterday. The pound fell yesterday as minutes of the bank’s May meeting showed its decision to pause stimulus was “finely balanced” for some policy makers.
The pound was little changed at $1.5684 at 8:25 a.m. London time, after sliding to $1.5668, the lowest level since March 15. Sterling was at 80.11 pence per euro from 80.19 pence yesterday.
The British currency has appreciated 4.6 percent in the past three months, the third-best performer of the 10 developed- nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar gained 6 percent and the yen advanced 8.6 percent.
The Office for National Statistics in London will say today that gross domestic product dropped 0.2 percent from the fourth quarter, according to the median forecast of 29 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member David Miles will speak at a Society of Business Economists conference in London later.
U.K. gilts were little changed, with the yield on 10-year securities at 1.77 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net
