The Pound Sterling is moving close to a 5-week peak on revived hopes that next month's withdrawal from the European Union will not be an overly difficult one after all. The Pound is coming back from earlier lows, helped also by across-the-board surprisingly upbeat data. Manufacturing and industrial production for July were both better than the forecasts had called for, while GDP rose to 0.3% from 0.0% in July, above the 0.1% that had been predicted.
As reported at 10:48 am (GMT) in London, the GBP/USD was trading higher at $1.2350, a gain of 0.5644%, and off the earlier peak of $1.2363. The EUR/GBP is trading lower at 0.8936 Pence, down 0.5022; the pair has ranged from a session low of 0.89260 Pence to a high of 0.90150 Pence.
Hard Brexit Still a Possibility
Lawmakers in Parliament continue to try to outmaneuver the Prime Minister who could call for yet another snap election. But both sides seem to have contingency plans in place so analysts are unwilling to say yet that the threat of a hard crash out of the EU has been fully eliminated. Whether or not the EU would permit another extension also remains to be seen.