Pound Up Versus Dollar Before Retail Sales Release

The pound rose to best levels since December 2009 against the broadly weaker dollar, but consolidated further versus the euro as uncertainty over the UK economy weight on the British currency.  The OECD has warned that the UK is one of the countries that is at a particular risk of seeing the present high levels of youth unemployment turning permanent. On the other hand, investors dumped the greenback on increased risk appetite as stocks rose across the globe, pushing the so-called riskier currencies up. Looking ahead to today, retail sales data and public finance headline the economic calendar. The expectation for the retail sales gauge is to improve slightly in March after dropping by –0.8% in the month before. Separately, public sector net borrowing data is expected to come in at 18.7 billion pounds, higher than February’s 10,3 billion. Expect for the pound to rebound against the euro should we see retail sales figures and public sector data beat the estimates.