Whilst there are two matches left to be played in the Rugby World Cup, Friday’s South Africa v Argentina to decide who comes third with the final next Saturday between New Zealand and Australia. Regardless who wins, it looks like economically the World Cup has worked out well for the UK according to the assessment by World First, the currency specialists.
Jeremy Cook, chief economist at the international payments company, World First, said: “The Rugby World Cup may be over for the Home Nations but the beneficial impact is being felt long after the knocks and bruised egos. Sales volumes rose by 1.9% on the month which is the largest amount since December 2013 with falling prices in food and alcohol components contributing to a 2.3% gain.”
“Overall the dynamics of the UK economy are strongly in favour of additional consumer expenditure with negative inflation and strong wage rises boosting overall confidence while the wobble in emerging markets has merely served to allow the man in the street to continue to think that interest rates will not be moving higher anytime soon.”
“Unfortunately this bumper performance is unlikely to be maintained as we head into Q4 but will have given UK GDP calculations a strong finish into the end of Q3 – Tuesday’s initial expectation is seen to rise by 0.7% on the quarter. Maybe the ONS should have done the England half-time talks…”
“Sterling has rallied on the number, briefly breaking through the 1.55 level against the USD and the 1.37 mark versus the euro although markets are waiting for Mario Draghi and the ECB’s press conference at 13.30 BST.”
