Little confidence in the near-term outlook for the pound - Scotiabank

Analysts at Scotiabank explained that the UK survey data continues to point to softness on the retail front. 

Key Quotes:

"The British Retail Consortium’s retail sales monitor reported a 4.2% drop in same store sales in the Apr year, the largest fall on record."

"The timing of Easter affected comparisons to some extent but do not explain all of the weakness."

"In addition, PM May’s government suffered another defeat in the Lords on its Brexit bill, the most serious of which will require her government to negotiate in order to remain in the European Economic Area – the opposite of Brexit’s intention."

"Focus remains on tomorrow’s BoE rate decision but the weak economic backdrop and political shambles that Brexit has become leaves little room for confidence in the near-term outlook for the pound."