THE POUND is holding steady against the Euro and the Dollar as thoughts turn to the year ahead.

Sterling is up a slight 0.01 per cent against the Euro and 0.09 per cent against the Dollar as the UK gets back to business after the Christmas break.

The pound is 1.1279 against the Euro and 1.3386 against the Dollar.

There’s bad news morning from The Resolution Foundation who says that although The UK’s pay squeeze will end next year, rising inflation will mean that 2018 is a year of flat wages.

Torsten Bell, director of the research group, said 2017 had been “a tough year for living standards”.

Adding: “The good news is that things will get better next year. The bad news is we may only go from backwards to standing still, with prospects for a meaningful pay recovery still out of sight.”

The research group added that 27% of working age households thought their financial positions would worsen in the coming 12 months – roughly the same as those who think it will get better.

However, it noted the lowest paid workers were set for a pay rise of 4.3% in April as the National Living Wage reached £7.83.

Bad news for the high-street after research group Springboard reports that fewer people hit the UK’s Boxing Day sales this year after Black Friday discounts and online discounting lowered footfall.

Shop visits dropped by 4.5% up to 5pm compared with last year according to the data.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said that although it had expected a downturn: “the scale of the drop is greater than expected.”

Adding: “What we have seen in the last couple of years is a structural shift in the Christmas trading period.”

EXPRESS.CO.UK