Sterling hits seven-month high against US dollar

Sterling has notched a gain today against the US dollar: it is up by 0.16% to about $1.2413.

But, more notably, earlier in the session the rate briefly touched $1.2447, its highest level in seven months.

That vertiginous drop in the pound’s value in September will forever be labelled “Truss and Kwarteng”, after the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister and her chancellor, who only avoided the ignominy of being shortest in that job because another died in office.

Since they were chucked out, UK financial markets have at least calmed, and there are some signs from economic data that have suggested the economic position is not quite as bad as first feared, while other indicators have suggested the Bank of England may not need to raise interest rates quite so quickly.