GBP review: Western Union

Quotes from Western Union:

- Sterling shed a little buoyancy to the greenback after its burst to new six-week highs this week and to six-year peaks for the U.K. currency on a trade-weighted basis. 

- Dovish Fed minutes saw the interest rate advantage U.S. assets hold over their U.K. counterpart narrow, supporting the pound. Sterling also got a boost this week from upbeat jobs data that suggested a U.K. rate hike may not be on such a far off horizon. 

- The next critical driver of GBP sentiment will be a Friday report on U.K. retail sales which are forecast to fall in January. Underwhelming news on the U.K. consumer would risk knocking sterling another rung lower.