Sterling’s interesting week reaches the last day having lost 1% since Wednesday morning against the euro and closer to 2% against the US dollar since Tuesday.
The reason for sterling’s fall has been poor economic data this week that suggest the Bank of England will need to moderate interest rate rises. The data showed below-expectation readings for, in date order, CBI Industrial Trends Orders, UK manufacturing and services industries as measured by PMI, and CBI Distributive Trends. The only positive was better public finances announced on Tuesday.
Overnight, however, GfK Consumer Confidence was marginally improved at -25, suggesting that UK consumers feel that the cost of living crisis is easing. This appears to have steadied sterling.
The big event today is the meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, in Wyoming’s Rocky Mountains, where US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell may give hints that US interest rate rises are coming to an end, or he may not, and later today we will hear from European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde.
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In business news, the Guardian reported that the British government is to delay post-Brexit checks on incoming food and fresh produce from the EU, to avoid the risk that they could raise food price inflation even more. This will be the fifth delay.
Nike has decide that it will after all sell replica shirts of English football goalkeeper Mary Earps, winner of the ‘Golden Glove’ award for best goalie at the tournament, after a backlash from consumers.
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