Pound’s Five-Year High Shows Ascent to Hero From Zero

What a difference a year has made for the British pound.

A trade-weighted index of the currency climbed to its strongest level since 2008 today on speculation surging retail sales will push the Bank of England closer to raising interest rates. This time last year, bets that the pound would weaken were building toward a record, data showed sales were contracting and central bank Governor Mervyn King was in favor of additional stimulus that tends to weaken a currency. U.K. two-year notes declined today, with yields climbing to more than double where they were a year ago.