Stronger than expected retail sales and ECB comments cause GBP/EUR to rise

Sterling rallied yesterday following May’s retail sales numbers which showed that British shoppers returned to the High Street last month in force with the data coming out better than expected. Sterling continued its rise in the afternoon as the euro weakened as the European Central Bank made it clear that they would not be raising interest rates until at least next summer and that the reduction of stimulus could be reversed if data weakened.

The sterling to euro rate certainly looks appealing versus what we have seen for the last few weeks.

Todays rates:
GBP/EUR 1.135
EUR/GBP 0.865