Good morning
Well here we are, already into March, the winter months of Jan and Feb seem to have gone by pretty fast and here we are, already looking at lighter mornings and lighter evenings.
I missed the first couple of days of the week, travelling around to see a couple of clients which I have to say is such a pleasurable part of the job. It is one of the major benefits of having your own company, that, within reason, we can choose who we work with and as such every client meeting is enjoyable.
Arriving back of course the first thing I do is look at the major currencies and pick up what I’ve missed. Well, since my report last Friday, GBP and EUR are a little higher against USD at 1.2080 and 1.0635 respectively, JPY looks a little weaker against USD at 136.00. And that’s really about it.
I’d have thought GBP could well be a little higher actually on the reports that Sunak has found an agreement with EU over Northern Ireland. I’ve not looked at the details as yet, I’m sure its more of a compromise than a fully acceptable deal, but Sunak seems eager to get it through and move on. GBPEUR looked pretty settled in mid-1.13s for now.
Iran are within days of being able to make the right material for a nuclear weapon according to the US defence department. Not a great piece of news at a time the last thing the world needs is any more unrest or destabilisation.
So, onto today where we await PMI numbers from UK, Canada and US. We also hear from BoEs Bailey this morning and look for any clues as to his thinking for future rate rises. BoE had suggested that rates may be near a peak but markets don’t agree and are pricing in not far off another 1% of rate rises. I think we’ll begin to see more difference of opinions between central bank officials and they begin to weigh up the cost of more rate rises against risks of damaging the economy.
In other news, some incredible pictures of the Northern Lights over parts of England, just not quite far enough South for me but some lucky people were greeted to a pretty wonderful display.
That’s all from me, I always think I should write more when I’ve not been around for a few days but if just doesn’t always work like that!
- 09.30 UK S&P manufacturing PMI
- 10.00 ECBs Nagel speaks
- 10.10 BoEs Bailey speaks
- 13.00 German HICP
- 14.30 CAD S&P manufacturing PMI
- 14.45 US S&P manufacturing PMI
- 15.00 US manufacturing ISM
- 00.30 AUS building permits
Comments