In testimony to the Treasury Select Committee, new Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Hogg stayed close to the bank’s recent script and there was no market impact.
There was choppy trading surrounding the Afternoon fix, but the UK currency was unable to gain sustained support, especially with real yields continuing to move against Sterling. The Euro edged towards 0.8550 on the day and the UK currency was unable to hold above 1.2450 against the dollar.
Scottish First Minister Sturgeon stated that a new independence referendum may be the only way for Scotland, maintaining a significant element of market unease surrounding the political outlook and the government could face defeat on in the House of Lords on an amendment to the Brexit Bill. Dollar developments dominated as Sterling retreated to below 1.24.
The latest PMI data will be watched closely on Wednesday while shop prices fell 1.0% in the year to February.01/03
EU Inflation With the ECB annual symposium meeting in sunny Sintra, Portugal, inflation is very much on President Lagarde’s mind ; that is because it is showing signs of rising with the monthly inflation rate showing an increase of 0.3% and that presages a break above the target 2% rate just as she and her colleagues […]
Gold With Gold accounting for the second highest proportion of Central Bank reserves after the USD and the mood music shifting to it assuming a greater influence on future reserves management, it is worth looking at the numbers behind that. In the 1960s, Central Banks held the highest amount historically of 38,000 tons of gold. […]
US Dollar Markets not liking POTUS pontificating on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy on Wednesday, and less still on his view about the competence or otherwise of Chairman Powell. Given the past few weeks, the betting is that Powell’s time is over either being replaced or having a Trump nominee second guessing him but […]