UK Economic Growth Drops Sharply, Sterling Under Pressure

Today’s data from Great Britain revealed that the nation’s economy grew two times less than was predicted by experts. The pound dropped sharply as a result on the news. The currency managed to bounce against the US dollar but remained below the opening level versus the euro (though the sterling is attempting to recover currently).

Gross domestic product of the United Kingdom rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2015 after increasing 0.6 percent in the previous three months. While analysts anticipated a slowdown of growth, they did not expect it to be so big. The soft data reduces chances for an interest rate hike from the Bank of England in the near future and makes it less likely for the current government to win the upcoming elections.

GBP/USD rose from 1.5229 to 1.5256 as of 10:04 GMT today after the drop to the daily low of 1.5176 that followed the unfavorable GDP report. At the same time, EUR/GBP went up from 0.7145 to 0.7149, touching the daily high of 0.7170.

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