Sterling has dropped to a 37-year low on the US dollar today after weaker-than-expected retail sales figures added to worries about the health of Britain's economy. The pound fell more than 1% against the dollar to $1.1351, its lowest since 1985, and was last trading at $1.1403.
The pound has been struggling and the euro rose to as high as 87.71 pence on Friday, its highest level since Feb 2021. It was last up 0.39% at 87.49 pence. Sterling's latest drop followed Friday's data that showed retail sales volumes slipped 1.6% in monthly terms in August - the biggest fall since December 2021 and worse than all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists that had pointed to a 0.5% fall.
This was just the latest bad news for the British economy, which faces slower economic growth and more persistent inflation than any other major economy next year, the International Monetary Fund forecasts.
Source: reuters.com