Sterling is cratering

The pound is cratering on Friday after new data showed the first signs of a post-Brexit crash in the British economy.

Markit's monthly composite PMI reading - which gives a picture of the state of Britain's economy - showed that activity fell to its lowest levels since the tail end of the global financial crisis in July.

This spooked understandably spooked investors and sent the pound tumbling. Prior to the data release at 9:30 a.m. BST (4:30 a.m. ET), sterling was higher by roughly 0.4% on the day, but as soon as the PMI figure was published the pound fell off a cliff. An hour after the release, the pound is off 0.5% against the dollar to trade at $1.31. Its daily high was $1.3285

Here is how sterling looks (note the huge drop at 9:30):

Sterling took a hammering after the UK voted to leave the European Union, losing more than 12% of its value in a couple of trading sessions and dropping to its lowest level since 1985. While it has rallied a little since then - last week it enjoyed its biggest weekly rise since 2009 - sterling still remains almost 12% down from where it closed on the day before the referendum result, $1.4897.

Predictions from substantial portions of the markets suggest that in the medium term, the pound is expected to continue to fall against most major currencies. Predictions of the currency's bottom range from $1.20 at Goldman Sachs, to $1.15 from Deutsche Bank, and even all the way to $1, a prediction made by former PIMCO executive Mohammed El-Erian.

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