Some across the board sterling weakness has been evident during Asian trade. Cable is down at 1.6395 from a North American close Tuesday around 1.6450, while EUR/GBP is up at .8655 from around .8635. Meanwhile GBP/JPY is down at 153.55 from around 154.20.
The weakness comes despite general risk appetite being in pretty good shape.
Appalling UK public finances remain a big negative hanging over the currency like the proverbial sword of damacles.
The NIESR says UK will return to growth end of this year, but will be 2013 before any strong growth re-emerges. The think-tank is warning that any immediate recovery will be weak and is sticking with it’s forecast UK economy will contract by 4.3% this year.
Amid all the talk of recovering house prices, found this negative article interesting. I pretty much agree with all that is said in this article.
For today, some interesting stuff coming down the pike:
06:45 GMT: French consumer spending June expected +0.4% m/m, -0.3% y/y
08:30 GMT: UK Bank of England minutes. Will be of interest. Market always on look-out for clues regarding QE.
09:00 GMT: Euro zone industrial new orders May expected +1.9% m/m, -27.9% y/y
10:00 GMT: UK CBI industrial trends total orders Q-1 expected -46 from previous -51.
