UK industrial production rose only 0.1% in February month over month and also year over year. Stronger gains of 0.3% and 0.4% respectively were expected. Manufacturing production came out at 0.4% as expected, but year over year we have a miss with +1.1%.
GBP/USD, which had already lost the 1.47 level, remains under the cosh at around 1.4675, and seems unable to recover. This figure doesn’t help that much.
The UK was expected to report a rise of 0.3% in industrial output for the month of February and +0.4% in manufacturing output. Construction output carried expectations of +1.9% after a big fall of 2.6% beforehand.
GBP/USD traded around 1.4680, extending its falls from the previous day, mostly due to the hawkish perception of the FOMC meeting minutes.
The figures published in Britain feed directly into the political debate as the May 7th elections draw closer. Next week we have critical job figures.
More: GBP: April Is The ‘Cruelest’ Month, Then A Turn – Goldman Sachs
