More gloom and doom on the markets this morning after the pound hit a new low in Asian trading as concerns about the UK’s vote to leave the European Union continued to undermine investor confidence.
It touched 1.2798 against the dollar on Wednesday, a 31-year low, before recovering slightly to $1.2929. According to the BBC, the pound has now fallen about 14 per cent against the dollar since hitting $1.50 ahead of the referendum result. However, at the time of writing, the FTSE 100 had changed course and was up 0.3 per cent at 6,569 points. It’s a different story on the story on the FTSE 250 though – which contains more UK-focused companies than the FTSE 100. It has fallen almost 0.4 per cent.Yesterday was all about the Bank of England after it warned of ‘challenging’ risks to financial stability following the vote for Brexit. The Bank took steps to release up to £150 billion worth of lending to households and businesses by relaxing regulatory requirements on the banking sector.
As it published its twice-yearly assessment of financial stability, the Bank said the risks it had feared ahead of the EU referendum had started to crystallise.
Housing
The Bank of England governor Mark Carney made it clear yesterday that the commercial property market is one of the risks to the UK economy.
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