The pound continued to romp higher this Wednesday, as investors indulged in a hawkish view of the morning’s UK third quarter GDP reading.

Despite a better than expected pair of durable goods orders figures from the US – the core reading rose to 0.7%, while the non-core number hit 2.2% – cable widened its gains as the day went on.

All this put the FTSE in a miserable mood, with the UK index dropping 50 points to fall to its lowest price in nearly 3 weeks. With the likelihood of a November rate hike from the BoE only increasing following the (slightly) better than forecast third quarter growth reading – leaving sterling in line for another boost – the UK index may struggle to muster the momentum required to climb back, and stay, above 7500 in the coming weeks.