By Greg Smith on Monday, September 14th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – BoE to signal further action Brexit negotiations ended last week with both sides indicating that significant differences remain. The UK government’s Internal Market Bill led the EU to threaten legal action. They have given the UK until the end of the month to amend it. The UK government admit the legislation would breach […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, September 7th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Brexit concerns resurface Brexit talks start again this week with concerns over no agreement putting sterling under pressure. Boris Johnson is expected to say that both sides should “move on” unless there is an agreement by 15th October. Apparently, the UK government is planning new legislation to override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement […]
By Greg Smith on Tuesday, September 1st, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Data strong as schools return There are concerns over an increase in the number of UK Covid cases, particularly as schools go back this week. Further rises in cases will increase concerns over the improving data. Switzerland and a number of others were added to the list of countries from which travellers need […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, August 24th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Surprisingly stronger data The data last week was mostly positive for the UK. Retail sales, in particular, were much stronger with a 3.6% rise. This is slower than the last couple of months but suggests the post lockdown surge isn’t running out of steam yet. The manufacturing and services PMIs were also much […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, August 17th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Positive PMIs expected This week is a very busy one for UK economic data releases. The manufacturing and services PMIs will be the first updates for August. We expect both to show further increases. The services PMI should be positively impacted by the government’s temporary VAT reduction and from the easing in lockdown […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, August 10th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – BoE hold policy, GDP due The Bank of England left interest rates at 0.1% and QE unchanged as expected. The MPC suggested that the economy is not as weak as previously feared. This is due to an earlier easing of lockdown and greater-than-expected online spending. They projected GDP to return to pre-Covid levels […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, August 3rd, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Short-term rebound will stay BoE On Thursday, the Bank of England announces its latest monetary policy decision. The economic outlook if extremely uncertain, though we have seen a recent short-term rebound. Chief Economist Andy Haldane described this rebound as “so far, so V”. The view of the bank beyond this short-term rebound will […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, July 27th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – PMIs above 50 Concerns over the impact of Covid on the US economy along with US-China relations have had a negative impact on equity markets. This has seen the dollar fall, with sterling rising as a consequence despite ongoing uncertainty about the progress of talks with the EU. Last week we saw much […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, July 20th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – GDP weaker than expected Last week’s 1.8% monthly rise for GDP was well below expectations. This subdued pace was mainly due to services only rising by 0.9% as much of the sector remained in lockdown. Meanwhile, construction and manufacturing both rose by over 8%. With the further easing of restrictions in June and […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, July 13th, 2020
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Economic update announced Last week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Summer gave his Economic Update outlining the next phase of his plan. There was a focus on jobs, with a job retention bonus for furloughed employees kept on at work. There was also a kickstart scheme for 16-24 year-olds and measures for hospitality, a reduction […]
