Bank of England in focus today
Happy Thursday, everyone! How was your Halloween Day? Hope you all had plenty of fun and treats as markets surely served up some great opportunities overnight. The pound in particular continues to look perky as Brexit optimism starts to rebuild so look out for more of that in the days/weeks to come.
0530 GMT - Australia October commodity price index
Prior release can be found here. The data point measures the change in selling prices of those commodities exported by Australia. A minor release.
0645 GMT - Switzerland October SECO consumer confidence
A measure of confidence levels towards the Swiss economy. Low-tier data.
0700 GMT - UK October Nationwide house prices data
Prior release can be found here. General gauge of housing market sentiment in the UK economy. Not a major release by any means.
0815 GMT - Switzerland October CPI figures
Prior report can be found here. A read on inflationary pressures in the Swiss economy, which has been improving as of late. Although September's reading was a tad softer than expected, let's see if there will be a rebound in October. Expectation is for a +1.1% y/y reading for headline annual inflation. The data here will feed into the SNB's inflation outlook, which isn't going to change all too much just yet.
0830 GMT - Switzerland October manufacturing PMI
Prior release can be found here. General gauge of industrial sentiment in the Swiss economy. A minor data point.
0930 GMT - UK October manufacturing PMI
Prior release can be found here. A gauge of factory activity in the UK for the previous month, not a major release as the economy relies more heavily on the services sector. But given the backdrop of a stronger pound squeeze since yesterday, a beat here will continue to fuel buyers at the very least while a softer touch will do little to dent the Brexit optimism seen overnight as the pound continues to perk up.
1130 GMT - US October Challenger job cuts data
Prior report can be found here. The data provides information on the number of announced corporate layoffs by industry and region and acts as a general labour market indicator. Doesn't provide much to markets as focus and attention turns to tomorrow's jobs report.
1200 GMT - BOE announces monetary policy decision for 1 November meeting
No change is expected from the BOE and they aren't expected to produce anything new on their statement either. This is just about as non-event as it gets for the central bank as they continue to wait on developments on Brexit. They're not likely to build up expectations of a rate hike further nor play it down completely. Watch out for the language on wage growth as that will be one of the key factors markets will be looking towards for hints of dovish/hawkish-ness. Aside from that, look out for any forecast changes in the inflation report - that will be the only thing to go on in today's meeting - but don't expect the central bank to hold firm on that as the forecasts could very well change depending on a Brexit deal/no-deal outcome.
1230 GMT - BOE governor Mark Carney begins his press conference
The inflation report will be key for the release above but all eyes will be on Carney and how he phrases the language of any forecast changes. I don't expect him to offer much for bulls or bears to chew on and instead keep the focus on the central bank staying neutral until Brexit sorts itself out.
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and as always, good luck with your trading!
