By Connor Campbell, Financial Analyst, Spreadex
This week, and the first half especially, is an absolute snooze, tumbleweed drifting across the economic calendar until Thursday’s UK manufacturing data and Friday’s US inflation reading.
That explains why the markets were relatively muted after the bell – not particularly negative, just fairly sluggish. The FTSE nudged around 15 points higher, keeping the index at a 7530, 7-week high after it benefited from last week’s pound-pummelling Bank of England dovishness.
Talking of sterling, the currency doesn’t look likely to recover last week’s chunky losses any time soon. Cable has climbed 0.1% and is now tickling $1.305, leaving it more than 2 cents lower than the 11-month high struck in the early hours of Thursday’s trading. Against the euro, meanwhile, the pound is continuing to suffer in the shadow of its continental cousin, dipping 0.1% to remain at an effective 10-month nadir.
The euro’s sustained strength – it’s almost up 0.2% against the dollar, but admittedly around a cent away from its recent 2 and a half year peak – hasn’t prevented the eurozone indices from posting some very mild growth this morning. The DAX and CAC rose 0.1% and 0.3% respectively, despite German industrial production dropping a far, far worse than forecast -1.1% (against the expected 0.2% rise, and the 1.2% increase seen the month previous).
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