Sterling weakened against both the euro and US dollar yesterday following a bleak economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and warnings of recession.
The gloomy outlook also reverberated throughout UK stock markets as London’s FTSE 100 stock also took a dip. London’s premier index fell 0.17% to 7,771.69 points.
Euro-watchers will have lots of interesting data releases to keep a close eye on for the remainder of this week. At 10am the eurozone will release both its latest unemployment rate and inflation rate. All before the big ECB decision on Thursday.
In European stock markets, Germany’s equity markets edged down on Tuesday, extending losses for the second session in a row as investors await the ECB’s latest decision. The benchmark Stoxx 600 lost 0.2%.
Members of the Federal Reserve’s open market committee (FOMC) will gather later today to decide on the Fed’s next interest rate.
According to analysts, today’s meeting could see the Fed dialing back the size of its rate increase for a second straight meeting. A 25pb hike is expected however, this will still push borrowing costs to their highest in over a decade.
Investors will be paying close attention to the Fed’s decision.
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