“The implied probability of a 25-basis-point rate increase by year-end was 23 percent, according to MPC-dated SONIA, sliding from 50 percent before the BOE’s policy announcement on Aug. 3, when it kept its key rate at a record low and cut the economy’s growth outlook,” according to Bloomberg.
Currency hedged ETFs, including the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI United Kingdom ETF (NYSEArca: HEWU), WisdomTree United Kingdom Hedged Equity Fund (NasdaqGM: DXPS) and Deutsche X-Trackers MSCI United Kingdom Hedged Equity ETF (NYSEArca: DBUK), are benefiting from sterling weakness.
Related: ETF Tracking Euro’s Movements Against Dollar Can Keep Rising
Without a hedge against volatility, U.S. investors interested in the growth in U.K. markets would be subject to the wild swings in the pound sterling. Since British stock are denominated in the pound sterling, a weaker GBP would mean that USD-denominated returns would be lower after a depreciating in the pound sterling.
The iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (NYSEArca: EWU), the largest U.K. ETF trading in the U.S., is not currency hedged, meaning it can be vulnerable to pound weakness.
For more information on the GBP, visit our British pound category.