London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Pound reaches high not seen since mid-August

Pound reaches high not seen since mid-August

A weakened dollar has led to a more valuable pound as officials at the US Federal reserve signal support for slowing interest rate rises.
A pound could buy $1.21 on Thursday morning, the highest amount since mid-August, making imports cheaper for UK companies and consumers.

The 20 cents rise in sterling buying power from an all-time low in the days following the September mini-budget and the associated market upset, is due to dollar weakness rather than pound strength.

The three-month high follows news from the US interest rate-setting Federal Reserve, known as the Fed, that the majority of its members wish to slow the pace of interest rate rises.

Rates had been continuously hiked by the Fed in an effort to reduce inflation to its 2% target but US inflation stood at 7.7% in the year up to November.

A stronger pound is good news for businesses and consumers and could help lower inflation as importing goods, such as food and petrol, becomes cheaper.

While sterling held its gains throughout the morning, the pound is still down against the dollar this year. Pound value peaked against the dollar in mid-January this year when £1 bought $1.37.

Higher pound values can also be a measure of economic confidence and financial stability and so the pound dropped in value after the now revoked, mini-budget plan of unfunded tax cuts and spending.

US markets are closed for Thanksgiving so broader market reaction to the Fed's interest rate position is not clear.

Interest rates have been rising across the world as countries grapple with inflation from rising energy costs, caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and supply chain issues stemming from COVID-19 lockdowns.

Similar to the Fed, whose views were known through the release of meeting minutes, the interest rate-setting body for the Eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday released minutes of its meetings.

But contrary to the Fed, the ECB said it feared that inflation may be getting entrenched, records of their last policy meeting showed. As a result, rates would need to rise further, the accounts of the 26 and 27 October meeting showed.

"It was also clear that rates would need to be raised further to reach a level that would deliver on the ECB's 2% medium-term target," the meeting notes showed.

The pound is at a month-high against the euro and can buy €1.16.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×