Quotes from Western Union:
- Broad greenback outperformance weighed on the pound and had it further below last week's six-week peaks. Back-to-back days of underwhelming news on the U.K. consumer caused the pound to surrender some of its recent gains.
- A local survey today showed a sharp drop in a gauge of retail spending to +1 for February, the lowest in more than a year, from nearly +40 in January. The report followed news Friday of a bigger than expected decline in U.K. retail sales in January, disappointing news that left sterling ripe for some profit-taking.