Euro is up against the pound after a choppy start to the morning, as Brexit turmoil weighs down on the latter with a possible election in the next two months. Meanwhile, Christine Lagarde has won EU lawmakers’ support in the first of three ‘rounds’ to be confirmed as the future ECB President.
She spoke at a two-and-a-half-hour hearing in Brussels, in which she said that she hoped she would never have to say anything similar to Mario Draghi’s statement that he would do ‘whatever it takes’ because it would mean ‘other economic policymakers have not done what they have to do’. This set the tone for the rest of her speech, in which she said that the ECB must be more ‘agile’, but that governments must also work to support the economy. She also warned against the risk of simply replying on market indicators, arguing that ‘the ECB needs to listen to and understand markets but need not be guided by markets.’
Yesterday, European retail sales declined month on month, entering negative territory at -0.6%. German factory orders came in much low than expected this morning, declining from 2.7% to -2.7%.
