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
Milan, Italy The City of Milan has a late night noise problem and so it has acted unilaterally to resolve it-Italian style. A ban on the sale of take away food including ice cream and pizza after midnight is being imposed to protect the “peace and health of residents.” Here in the UK late night […]
British Pound Reports that the UK may cut its interest rates before the USA cut their interest rates were the final straw this past week for Sterling. A slew of less than helpful inflation, employment and finally retail sales saw GBP weaker , but then the suggestion that with the background of that less than […]
US Dollar Surging on a strong US economy together with further geopolitical tensions in the past week, USD is at its strongest versus EUR this year and came within a whisker of breaking through 1.06 in yesterday’s trading. Against the Japanese Yen USD was 154.55 which caused Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki to break cover […]