GBP/USD: UK GDP and Prelim GDP

The British Pound depreciated against the US Dollar, following the UK GDP and Prelim GDP data releases on Friday at 8:30 GMT. The GBP/USD exchange currency rate lost 35 pips or 0.29% right after the release. The British Pound continued trading at the 1.2120 level against the Greenback.

The Office for National Statistics released the UK Prelim GDP data, which came out worse-than-expected of negative 0.2% compared to the forecast of 0.0%. Note, that the UK Manufacturing Production data was released at the same time.

According to the official release: UK gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.2% in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2019, having grown by 0.5% in the first quarter of the year. This is weaker than market expectations and the latest Bank of England forecast, which were for a flat Quarter 2. The path of GDP and some of its components has been particularly volatile through the year so far, largely reflecting changes in timing of activity related to the UK's original planned exit date from the European Union in late-March."