The week started with a burst of activity in the markets yesterday morning as PMI data arrived from different parts of the world, sending sterling in different directions. First, German and French PMI was deeply disappointing, especially in manufacturing, which depressed the euro and boosted sterling, and was followed by eurozone-wide PMI which was similarly not just down on last month but well below expectations too.
Factories are not just suffering on the continent, however. The UK’s PMI was shortly after revealed to also be well down and below expectations, which weakened sterling sharply. In the USA, on the other hand, manufacturing expectations are up and only services were down.
This all left sterling by the end of the day around a third of a cent up on the euro but a similar amount down against other major currencies including the US dollar.
Overall, the pound has been on its worst run since the start of the pandemic, with seven consecutive daily drops against the US dollar.
Other than that, it was a busy day for business news too. Ryanair announced record quarterly profits of €663 million for Q2, making more than 50% more per passenger than pre-pandemic, at €13.15 per passenger.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, facing a rout at the next general election according to the polls and recent results, signalled that he would soften some green policies that would otherwise add to the cost of living for British households and business.
Elon Musk put an X among the pigeons as he rebranded Twitter, with immediate effect, to X. Tweets will now be X’s, he said, throwing both long-time tweeters and apostrophe pedants into stress and confusion.
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