GBP/USD near session lows as UK Retails Sales loom

At 7am we get some important data from the UK. The October retail sales report will be released and it could have an impact on the Pound. Yesterday afternoon the GBP/USD did as expected and extend a move below the prior, post UK budget low, at 1.2597. The Pound closed in the US last night at 1.2589 after hitting a session low at 1.2576. The Pound has fallen further this morning, dropping to set a fresh interim low a short while ago, at 1.2565. There is no doubt the further falls in the EUR/USD below 1.05 have helped to propel this move lower and clearly this is also about the firmer dollar versus the European currencies. That said, the Pound could certainly do with some good news. It remains to be seen if this UK sales data will deliver that shortly. The markets are not expecting an especially robust UK sales report this morning. Overall annualised UK sales are forecast to rise by 3.4% last month, after rising by 3.9% in September. However, the monthly data is not so good and forecast to fall by 0.3%, where they rose by 0.3% the month before. The Pound will react to this data and there will be any update on that as soon as possible once the data hits the screens. The GBP/USD is currently trading at 1.2569