Pound falls to 7-month low

There’s been more downside seen in the pound today with the currency falling to its lowest level since last November against the US dollar and in doing so, dropping back below the 1.31 handle. The FTSE is also lower with global risk sentiment for stocks remaining fraught as Chinese equities hit their lowest level of the year overnight despite attempts from Trump and Mnuchin to deliver upbeat news on Wednesday.

BoE boost fades

A fairly sharp move higher in the Pound last Thursday following a hawkish shift in the Bank of England’s rate-setting committee has fizzled out with sterling now trading lower against not only the US dollar but also the Euro and the Yen since the announcement was made. There was a lingering feeling that the Bank were simply trying to talk up the currency without delivering a policy change and as is often the case when this strategy is pursued the market impact tends to not be lasting. The biggest boost for sterling last week was the dissent of Andy Haldane, with the bank’s chief economist voting in favour of a hike, and in light of this his speech this afternoon could well be market moving for the pound.         

BP buys UK’s largest car charger

In a move that echoes rival Shell’s purchase of car charging company NewMotion, BP have announced they are buying Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric charging network, for £130M. The decision to acquire the firm appears to be quite clearly a case of BP hedging their bets, with the company forecasting that the number of electric vehicles in the UK is set to grow from the present 135,000 to 12 million in just over 20 years. BP has enjoyed a strong move higher in its share price of late, with a rise of over 26% in the past year as crude prices have rallied strongly since last June’s low.

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