Today is a quiet day on the economic calendar with no UK, Euro and US Data out.
Markets will shift their attention to tomorrows data with Euro Industrial production released in the morning followed by the Bank of England Inflation report.
An interesting read on Bloomberg this morning headlined Mark Carneys revolution at the bank of England might have further to run. After overhauling management and operations, and introducing forward guidance on interest rates, the governor has still not tampered with the machinery of monetary policy, including when officials meet and how they present decisions. For a man who has left few stones unturned as he reaches his 500th day at the BOE tomorrow, his work may not yet be done.
The nine-member MPC usually announces its decision on the Thursday of the first full week of the month and releases minutes of the meeting 13 days later. Officials also produce forecasts every quarter, with Carney presenting the latest ones at a press conference tomorrow. While the BOE publishes minutes within two weeks of a decision, that’s usually the first insight into its monthly assessment.
In the EU, European Central Bank Executive Board member Yves Mersch said policy makers will be ready to buy asset-backed securities next week as part of a stimulus plan. Since June, policy makers have cut interest rates twice, offered long-term loans to banks and committed to buy assets to boost the ECB’s balance sheet by as much as 1 trillion euros ($1.24 trillion). With inflation well below the ECB’s goal and the economy struggling to expand, President Mario Draghi has pledged to add stimulus if needed, stoking speculation about large-scale sovereign-bond purchases.
The dollar’s advance since the end of last month stalled amid speculation it has risen too fast. The Aussie gained after business conditions improved by the most on record. Australia’s dollar strengthened against all its major peers after National Australia Bank Ltd. said business conditions rose the most on record in October, to reach the highest since February 2008.
MORNING MARKET RATES:
GBPEUR 1.2762
GBPUSD 1.5842
EURUSD 1.2412
GBPSEK 11.731
GBPAED 5.8194
GBPAUD 1.8411
EURGBP 0.7834
GBPJPY 183.38
GBPTHB 52.090