The British Pound was strong in June because the expectation for the BoE to raise interest rates has been moved up after bank gov. Mark Carney hinted at a possibility of a rate hike at the end of 2014. This week, strong UK data helped the GBP extend that strength. This week, we saw the Manufacturing PMI for June (57.5) improve faster than expected. The Construction PMI (62.2) came in at a 4-month high for June. Even though the Services PMI (57.7) was slower than the 58.1 forecast, the service employment component rose at a record pace (58.8). GBP/JPY shot up from 172.37 to 175.36 so far this week. The 4H chart shows ... (full story)