In complete contrast to yesterday, the pound recovered all of the previous day’s losses on the back of better than expected UK employment data and the most positive assessment out of the Bank of England about the UK economy for 6 years.
The latest Bank of England’s quarterly Inflation Report (IR) surprised the markets on the upside with the most positive view on the prospects for economic activity to recover and consumer inflation to return to its target possibly a whole two years ahead of the previous assessment of 2016 set in only August 2013.
According to the report, UK inflation is now set to fall back to around the 2% target over the next year or so and Governor Mark Carney also underlined that the job now is to not only secure the recovery which had now “finally taken hold” and the need to correctly determine how to move forward on monetary policy.
In addition, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported yesterday that the UK unemployment rate has dropped to 7.6% for the three months ending 31 September.
In reaction to the data Dr. Howard Archer, Chief UK + European Economist at IHS Global Insight, said that “The drop in the unemployment rate to 7.6% in the three months to September can only fuel market expectations that it will get down to 7.0% by early-2015 and that the Bank of England could very well start raising interest rates then, regardless of the message that the bank gives out in the November Quarterly Inflation Report.”
The euro is freshly under pressure following some disappointing data out of the biggest euro zone economy, Germany with German economic growth slowing in the third quarter due to weak external demand. German gross domestic product (GDP) rose by only 0.3% from the second quarter when the quarter-on-quarter reading showed a 0.7% increase.
In the US, prospective new Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen is expected to say that the US economy is performing “far short” of its potential at her confirmation hearing today in prepared remarks that justify continued monetary stimulus.
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