British Pound Struggles to Find Direction, Drops Against U.S. Dollar

 

The British pound declined on Monday as the currency

 retreated from its recent highs due to the rapid gains that the U.S. dollar achieved. The British pound traded near its last week’s opening level today after losing all of the gains accomplished on Friday, which had brought the currency to its highest level since its sudden crash on October 7.

Traders speculate that Donald Trump’s presidency could produce higher inflation rate in the USA, which would accompany the increase in fiscal spending that the president-elect plans to introduce once he’s in office. The global bond market sharply declined on expectations of higher inflation, pushing US Treasury bond yields to their highest levels in 2016.
The British pound declined against the dollar as the greenback was lifted by the rise in bond yields. The probability of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December rose to 85.8%, according to the CME Group FedWatch Tool, further supporting the dollar, which touched its highest level since December 2015 earlier today.
However, the pound had a small advance against the euro on Monday as the British currency continues to be supported by the UK High Court’s ruling that the government needs a parliamentary approval before moving ahead with the Brexit. Meanwhile, the shared currency continued struggling to find strength against the British pound and the dollar.
GBP/USD traded at 1.2484 as of 20:09 GMT after opening the day at 1.2564. The pair repeatedly fluctuated up and down today as it traded between 1.2587 and 1.2449. EUR/GBP touched 0.8590 after closing at 0.8613 on Friday. Meanwhile EUR/USD was at 1.0726 after touching 1.0710, the pair’s lowest point since December 2015.
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