Sterling was unable to make any headway against the dollar during the European session on Monday, but it was able to strengthen against the Euro for the sixth successive session as the single currency dipped to lows around 0.8460.
According to data from Visa, UK consumer spending slowed to a five-month low of 0.4% in January from 2.5% in December, maintaining expectations that underlying consumer spending will slow during 2017.
The latest UK consumer inflation data will be watched closely on Tuesday and a lower than expected reading would dampen expectations surrounding the need for higher interest rates while any move in the headline rate to 2.0% or higher would increase speculation that the Bank of England could be pushed towards an earlier than expected tightening.
Sterling was able to hold above the 1.2500 level against the dollar on Tuesday with a firm underlying tone
Chancellor Reeves Market observers were no better informed at the end of the Rachel Reeves speech than they were at the outset yesterday morning. The only surprise was that having comprehensively floated options in the past two months for inclusion in her November 26 Autumn Statement, that the Chancellor should have elected to speak at […]
Eurozone Growth Those productive Germans have for the second month been less productive it turns out in December which was a surprise to the pointy heads deputed to monitor EU stats. The story is as follows: the German services sector remains relatively resilient but manufacturing output has declined. At present the French economy is doing the […]
Bank of England As expected, the Monetary Policy Committee delivered a 25bp rate cut to 3.75% yesterday lunchtime. This was what is being described as a hawkish cut which means that further reductions are less predictable in a mixed economic environment which has the curate’s egg attributes of rising unemployment and falling inflation. The Committee […]