Good Morning, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi delivered a speech this morning where he told his audience that before altering the ECB’s stance on monetary policy they need sufficient confidence that inflation will converge to their aim and remain at those levels, even in less supportive conditions. This comes in defence […]

Good Morning, Over recent days, the Pound has moved higher against the Euro, Dollar and other G10 currencies but has begun reversing these moves ahead of Brexit which is due to be triggered by the U.K. government later today. There are no signs of Article 50 angst in the UK and European equity markets which have picked up […]

Good Morning, The Pound fell in value versus the Euro yesterday afternoon as Investors bought the Euro following a better than expected press conference from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. In its press conference the ECB raised its 2017 inflation projection to 1.7% from 1.3% in December however adding that the expected pick-up would probably be […]

Good Morning, The Pound has started today’s session on the back foot amid political uncertainty, a gloomy economic outlook and increased expectations the US will tighten monetary policy. The pound had already taken a tumble yesterday after softer than expected house prices and retail sales data last month moving the world’s oldest currency lower against […]

Good Afternoon, The Pound’s appeal turned soured on Friday after February’s UK services PMI showed a greater than expected slowdown in activity as the index dropped to 53.3 – its weakest since September 2016, back in line with pre-referendum averages. It had been predicted to weaken from 54.5 to 54.1. This was seen by many as possible confirmation […]

Good Morning, Manufacturing in the UK expanded slower than expected last month, a private survey revealed on Wednesday by Markit which reported that the manufacturing PMI dropped to 54.6 points in February, while the preceding month’s reading was revised up from 55.7 to 55.9 points. Market analysts had anticipated a slight decrease to 55.6; nevertheless, any […]

Good Morning, A busy week of data ahead with economic highlights including PMI’s from the UK culminating on Friday with key Services sector figures. In addition to this we have US durable goods and the ISM, non-manufacturing and manufacturing readings. The big event however, will be the speech by President Trump to Congress tomorrow (Tuesday) […]

Good Morning, The Pound has gained lost ground after Bank of England policymaker, Kristin Forbes, commented that recent UK data may warrant a rate hike. Speaking in Leeds, Kristin stated: ‘In my view, if the real economy remains solid and the pick-up in the nominal data continues, this could soon suggest an increase in the […]

Good Morning, Friday’s US Employment Report indicated that in January net non-farm payrolls increased by a solid 227,000 but disappointing wage growth made investors bet against a near-term interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve. Economists expected a rise of around 175,000 from the Nonfarm payrolls report, but the measure instead jumped to its highest level […]

Good Morning, US Dollar – US Markets The US Dollar has had its worst start to the year in three decades on concerns the United States was poised to ditch a long standing “strong dollar” policy. Against a basket of major peers, it has weakened by 2.6% in January, its worst performance since 1987, falling […]