UK retail sales rose by 0.4 percent during the month of July, marking the second straight increase, while the annual rate rose to a 14-month high of 3.3 percent from 3.1 percent.
However, this didn’t have much of an impact on the British pound. Instead, the currency took a hit and finished the day as the weakest of the majors after the UK budget statement hit the wires. The UK government posted a deficit of 8 billion pounds in July, the biggest since recordkeeping began in 1993, highlighting the dour state of the nation’s finances. Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook on the UK’s AAA credit rating to “negative” from “stable” in May for this very reason, and if we see this trend continue, the risk for an actual downgrade will grow and put greater pressure on the British pound.
[B]Check out the Daily Fundamentals in its entirety for a look at what happened across the majors.[/B]