In the fifth consecutive day of weakness, the British pound fell to a record low against the Euro and a 4 month low against the US dollar.
With most traders out for the holidays, the trends that began last week have continued well into this week. No one is willing to stick their hand out and start picking a bottom in the British pound this late in the year. Instead many traders are probably happy to end the breakeven and will take this opportunity to collect themselves before start over again in January. As UK economic data continues to show signs of weakness, there are no buyers left in the market. This morning, Hometrack reported 0.3 percent decline in house prices in the month of December, which is the biggest drop in 3 years. They also predict that the number of closings will fall by 17 percent and that prices will rise by just 1 percent next year. The housing market has been the back bone of UK growth for many years and now that this sector of the economy is crumbling, growth could suffer greatly in 2008.