Sterling set for weekly loss as Middle East conflict overshadows domestic data

June 20(Reuters) - Sterling gained slightly against the dollar on Friday but was set for a loss on the week as uncertainty over the Israel-Iran conflict fuelled demand for traditional safe havens such as the greenback.
Weak UK retail data earlier in the session and the Bank of England's decision on Thursday to keep rates unchanged had little effect on the pound.
Sterling was 0.2% higher at $1.3495 but eased 0.6% against the dollar on the week, after two consecutive weeks of gains.
The dollar was set for its biggest weekly rise in more than a month on Friday.
The BoE said it was monitoring risks from a weaker labour market and higher energy prices on the back of the conflict as it held interest rates at 4.25% as expected on Thursday, sending the pound down briefly against the U.S. dollar.
"The pound was only lightly touched by a consensus Bank of England hold yesterday," ING FX Strategist Francesco Pesole wrote in a note to clients.
"Yesterday's 6-3 vote split for a cut can be interpreted marginally on the dovish side and is allowing markets to reinforce their conviction call on an August cut."
Markets now priced in a near-60% chance for a quarter-point cut at the BoE's next policy meeting.
The euro was marginally up to 85.43 pence on Friday, set for its second week of gains in a row.
Sterling briefly pared some earlier gains against the U.S. dollar after weak British retail sales data, which saw volumes recording their sharpest drop since December 2023 last month, as demand fell after shoppers splurged on food, summer clothes and home improvements the month before.
"Retail sales in May brought significant payback" after a "hard to explain" strength in the previous four months, Allan Monks, chief U.K. economist at J.P. Morgan, said.
The figures came alongside government borrowing figures which showed a slightly larger than expected budget deficit of 17.7 billion pounds ($23.88 billion) for May.
Britain's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter of 2025 but shrank in April, as a property tax break ended and U.S. tariffs started to sting.
The BoE forecasts overall growth of 1% for 2025.
($1 = 0.7413 pounds)

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Top Gear

30 minutes ago

• Top Gear

Skoda students have turned this Superb Estate into a bike-carrying pickup truck

Plug-in hybrid Superb becomes a ute with a clever bike rack and a sliding rear door to support pro bike racers Skoda loves cycling. Of course, the Czech firm started out with Václav Laurin and Václav Klement making bicycles all the way back in 1895, and in slightly more recent times it has been a main partner of the Tour de France for over two decades. So it's perhaps no surprise this year's concept car produced by the students of the Skoda Academy in Mladá Boleslav is a cyclist's dream support vehicle. Christened the Skoda L&K 130, this is the first Skoda student concept to be based on the Superb Estate, and the kids have turned it into a rad pickup style thing with space for two bikes on the racks in the extendable bed, and another on the roof.

Telegraph

36 minutes ago

• Telegraph

The 10 best cafés and coffee shops in Manchester

Manchester's restaurant scene is booming and so too is its collection of more casual coffee shops. In the city's laid-back cafés, you can start your day with the perfect flat white, enjoy a top-notch brunch with your cuppa, sample some of the city's best doughnuts with a cold brew, or drink coffee from the café's own roastery. If you're looking for a caffeine fix while exploring the city centre, here's our pick of the best coffee shops in Manchester – from bijou joints, where the focus is on delivering the perfect cup every time, and places where the décor is as good as the drinks, to a classy Mediterranean-inspired café that becomes a bar in the evening. All our recommendations below have been hand selected and tested by our resident destination expert. Find out more below or for further inspiration see our guides to the city's best hotels, bars and things to do. Fig & Sparrow A couple of minutes' walk away from the alternative shopping emporium Affleck's Palace, at the heart of the Northern Quarter, this small independent coffee shop has been a staple in the area since 2013. Along with excellent coffee by local roastery Heart & Graft, you can order good value brunch dishes, sandwiches, soups and cakes by Stockport's Silver Apples bakery. It's a laid-back space with wooden floorboards, sage green chairs, pillars and exposed beams. Nab one of the three seats in the window to watch life on Oldham Street while you sip. Fort In the Great Northern Warehouse, next to its rainbow staircase up to Deansgate Mews, this slick coffee shop has its own roastery and takes making the perfect flat white or pourover seriously. Its minimalist interiors with pale grey walls, black tables and a wooden counter are flooded with light from huge windows onto Deansgate and upbeat music plays while you sip. There are accompanying pastries available to buy from Sticky Fingers bakery in Stockport – but look out for food and location changes due to an imminent move. Siop Shop This small café, in a former weavers' cottage on Tib Street, has all of the ingredients to make you smile: some of the best doughnuts in Manchester in creative flavours and designs, cheerful décor with tangerine orange, tomato red and sunflower yellow seating; and excellent coffee that is roasted in-house. Order one of its classic doughnut favourites, such as lemon meringue, or go for a sandwich baked in house. Looking for more reasons to love it? Siop Shop runs a gardening club every other Wednesday evening, too. Area: Northern Quarter Nearest Metrolink: Shudehill Website: Price: £ ManCoCo You can smell the coffee roasting in ManCoCo in the morning, as you pass by this roastery and coffee house tucked away under some railway arches near Deansgate station. All of the coffee roasted here is ethically sourced from identifiable single origin farms, estates or small farm cooperatives and you can pop in to buy a bag or sit in its purple and turquoise walled space, sipping its own ManCoCo Manchester blend. If you're inspired to create the perfect cuppa at home, enrol with its coffee academy, where courses range from 'barista training for everyone' and an 'introduction to coffee brewing' to 'latte art'. Just Between Friends A top contender for the best coffee in Manchester, Just Between Friends, has three sites – one in the Northern Quarter, one in Ancoats and one in the Cheshire suburb of Wilmslow. In the Northern Quarter, head to Tib Street and look for a bijou, black café front with the word coffee painted above the windows and its menu on the glass. The focus here is on your perfect cup with a blackboard of specials on the wall and petite hexagonal wooden tables to sit at with your drink. There's a small menu of bagels and pastries if you're after more than a caffeine fix. Federal In its three central Manchester cafés, Federal aims to 'offer the city's sunniest welcome'. It does this through the combination of consistently warm and friendly service, a buzzy atmosphere, a tempting brunch menu and fantastic coffee by roasters Ozone. Peruse its coffee menu in its Oxford Road site, checking what the weekly batch brew is, and choose a seat next to its plant-lined windows or outside next to Circle Square. You can't book and there's often a queue – but these tend to go down quickly as the service is speedy. There are cakes and pastries by Stockport bakery Sticky Fingers for a sweet treat with your drink, too. Area: Oxford Road Corridor Nearest Metrolink: St Peter's Square Website: Price: £ Idle Hands Idle Hands first launched on Piccadilly Approach in 2015 before it moved to its current Northern Quarter base in 2018. There are rotating coffee choices from roasters around the world in its quirky high-ceilinged space with plant-lined windowsills, colourful prints on walls and turquoise pillars – think Swerl roasters in Sweden or Round Hill Roastery in Somerset – and a selection of tempting pies in its counter, including pecan and lemon meringue. Its brunch options, such as fry ups on a stack of homemade hash browns, are popular too. Pollen Pollen Bakery started out under railway arches near Piccadilly railway station in 2016, where it attracted queues of people after one of its legendary sourdough loaves and cruffin pastries. It now has two permanent sites in the city centre – its main bakery in Ancoats and a café serving cakes, pastries and brunch in the new micro neighbourhood Kampus, over the water from Canal Street. Head to its industrial chic, light-filled Kampus space, for a coffee by Old Trafford based roasters Blossom and watch its pastry team making all of the treats on the counter behind a glass screen. You'll find it hard to resist taking some home. Foundation Designed by Manchester studio NoChintz, Foundation has sleek monochrome interiors, exposed brick and pays attention to detail in everything from lighting to hanging plants. When it launched in 2015, the aim was to create a flexible space for those who appreciate quality, with the motto 'coffee is everything'. Foundation's formula has proved to be a winner with five sites now open in Manchester. Its Whitworth site is attached to the hip of Whitworth Locke Hotel and has an extensive drinks menu featuring coffee classics, as well as some more unusual options such as the Kevlar – an Americano with butter and coconut oil. Haunt On the corner of central Peter Street and Mount Street, with large windows to gaze out of, Haunt is a popular spot to work during the day while it slips into a place to sip an aperitivo in the evening. There are speciality coffees by Leeds-based North Star Coffee Roasters, its own homemade chai lattes, bagels and sandwiches, and a brunch menu that includes a tiramisu French toast. The classy space is inspired by all-day Mediterranean cafés and bars with a chequerboard floor, marble tables and metro tiled bar. Area: Petersfield Nearest Metrolink: St Peter's Square Contact: Price: £ How we choose Every restaurant in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets, from neighbourhood favourites to Michelin-starred restaurants – to best suit every type of traveller's taste – and consider the food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest opening and provide up to date recommendations. About our expert Cathy has lived in Manchester all of her life and still feels spoilt by the culture and varied dining options on her doorstep. You'll find her chasing her children around the Whitworth or sipping G&Ts in The Refuge.

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Walmart makes massive self-checkout U-turn: 'Huge change'

A Walmart in Missouri has seen a sharp drop in police calls and arrests after it made a bold move: ripping out every self-checkout machine. The Shrewsbury supercenter removed the kiosks last year after logging a staggering 509 police calls. Since then, the numbers have plunged — with only 183 calls so far this year and arrests cut nearly in half. 'That's a huge change. We really appreciate Walmart taking initiative and removing those self-checkers,' Shrewsbury police chief Lisa Vargas said on Tuesday. Walmart has been looking for other ways to crack down on shoplifting at self-checkouts such as using handheld scanners in select stores to verify a receipts authenticity. Bosses have also been locking up items that are frequently stolen behind plexiglass screens. Besides Shrewsbury, select Walmart stores in Ohio and New Mexico eliminated self-checkouts to lessen the chance of shoplifting. 'We believe the changes will improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service,' a Walmart spokesperson told CX Dive. Walmart is in the middle of a massive revamp at 650 stores this year. While they're working on store redesign, select locations are also rolling out adjustments to self-checkouts to stop crooks stealing customers' card details. Commonly seen is red tape covering part of the card reader prevent card skimmers from stealing financial information. Card skimming has become a frequent problem in Walmart stores nationwide, with one incident going unnoticed for 18 days. During those days, a card-skimming device disguised as a pin pad at one of the retailer's registers in Connecticut. The problem has escalated to a point where Washington state's legislature proposed a bill to regulate the use of self-checkouts. Besides registers, Walmart has begun testing other methods aiming to decrease its crime rate without diminishing its current progress. Some of these tools include opening locked display cases with phones and hidden barcodes in Great Value-branded products. Select Walmart stores have been adding gadgets to self-checkout scanners to decrease the chance of card skimming Walmart is not the only retailer to continue axing self-checkout. Dollar General also performed a massive self-checkout removal in 12,000 stores, hoping for a decrease in shoplifters. The takeaway worked in Dollar General's favor, and the chain reported an 8 percent boost in income during its first quarter. Sam's Club, a division of Walmart, is removing all machines and rolling out AI -powered 'Scan & Go' technology to reduce checkout wait times. Costco, one of Sam's Club's biggest rivals, began rolling out the same technology but is not planning on axing self-checkout from all locations.