The British pound is trading quietly in the Monday session. In North American trade, GBP/USD is trading at 1.4002, down 0.21% on the day. On the release front, there are no US events, with US markets closed for Presidents’ Day. In the UK, Rightmove HPI gained 0.8%, its strongest gain in four months. On Tuesday, the UK releases CBI Industrial Order Expectations.
GBP/USD gained 1.3% last week, as the dollar continued to lose ground to its major rivals. However, the dollar rebounded with gains on Friday, following strong US housing and consumer confidence reports on Friday. Building Permits jumped to 1.40 million in January, up from 1.30 million in December. This easily beat the estimate of 1.29 million. Housing Starts followed suit and improved to 1.33 million in January, up from 1.19 million a month earlier. This was well above the forecast of 1.28 million. There was more positive news from consumer confidence, as UoM Consumer Confidence climbed to 99.9, well above the estimate of 95.4 points. Despite stock market volatility, consumer confidence was boosted by the recent tax reform package and a red-hot labor market.
Should cryptocurrencies be regulated? Bitcoin has seen wild fluctuations in recent months, ranging from under $1000 to just under $20,000. There are growing calls for these currencies to be regulated, and central banks could play a key role in such a move. However, last week, ECB President Mario Draghi poured cold water on any ECB involvement, saying that it was not the ECB’s responsibility to ban or regulate Bitcoin. Draghi added that the ECB was exploring the use of blockchain, a digital technology to monitor bitcoin transactions. Still, with Bitcoin gaining more and more popularity, the Bank of England and other central banks will have to pay greater to attention to the impact of Bitcoin on the currency markets.
