British Pound (GBP) Latest: GBP/USD Upside Persists , EUR/GBP Bearish - UK GDP Firms 2021-02-12 07:30:00 Justin McQueen, Analyst
GBP/USD Sees Limited Reaction to Better Than Expected GDP
EUR/GBP Remains Bearish Below 0.8860
UK Q4 GDP Recap
UK GDP Q4 Y/Y: -6.5% vs Exp. -8.1% (Prior -8.9%) - Q/Q: 1.0% vs Exp. 0.5% (Prior 4.1%)
UK GDP for the fourth quarter came in firmly above expectations at 1% (Exp. 0.5%), which saw the yearly rate at -6.5%, against the consensus of -8.1%. While the GDP data has printed notably better than expected, this is not entirely a surprise, given last week’s BoE monetary policy report, in which the central bank stated that Q4 GDP was materially better than their initial forecasts. In turn, the Pound has seen a very muted reaction to the data with GBP/USD continuing to hover around the 1.38 handle. Going forward, the vaccine rollout will remain among the key drivers for the Pound.