As predicted, the Labour Party won the British general election, winning a majority of around 170 seats in a dramatic turnaround from the “Get Brexit Done” election of 4.5 years ago.
It was the worst ever election result for the Conservative Party, which lost around 250 seats as some 20% of a very low turn-out voted for Reform UK, which won several seats, as did the Green Party. There was a strong showing for the Liberal Democrats too, which now has 71 seats.
There was very little reaction from the currency markets, with the pound barely moving against the euro, although it has strengthened by just over 0.15% against the US dollar.
However, attention will now turn to the second round of the French election this weekend, where the governing party is also likely to be ousted.
Other news yesterday included Construction PMI in the eurozone, which fell sharply in Italy and France but strengthened in Germany, albeit while remaining in strongly negative mode at 39.7.
We have just heard that house prices in the UK fell again last month. According to the Halifax House Price Index, prices fell by 0.2% in June, taking annual rises to 1.6%.
Coming up today are several speeches by US Federal Reserve policymakers, ahead of Non-Farm Payrolls data at 1.30pm UK time.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde will also be speaking. And with the election over, Bank of England (BoE) officials are now allowed to comment publicly again and several will be doing so on Monday and Tuesday next week.
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