USD: initial jobless claims fall again!

Employment in the US has been strong for some time now and there has been some extremely positive jobless claims data of late. However, initial jobless claims were expected to increase a little this time around to 210,000 from 204,000. But they actually fell again to...


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EUR: flash consumer confidence disappoints

The headline release from the eurozone was the flash consumer confidence reading for September 2018. It had been expected to fall to -2 from -1.9 in the previous month, but the actual figure came in at -2.9. It is the lowest reading since May 2017 and is slightly...


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GBP: sales smash forecast in August

Amidst continuing Brexit uncertainty, there was some extremely positive news from the UK yesterday in the form of retail sales. Analysts had predicted that sales would slip to -0.2% in August, but they actually increased by 0.3% from an upwardly revised 0.9% in July....


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UK retail sales smash forecasts

The day after we discovered we are all getting poorer, UK retail sales smashed forecasts. The markets had been expecting a 0.2% decline in August, but they actually increased by 0.3%. However, it is perhaps telling that the figures were largely brought about by a...


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