The pound remains at multi-year highs against a range of currencies including the Canadian and Australian dollars and multi-month highs against others like the euro and New Zealand dollars.
Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney testified yesterday to the Treasury Select Committee and strongly rebuffed suggestions that his policy framework of forward guidance is unworkable citing his numerous contacts with real businesses, more than 200 in recent months, had shown that UK businesses understand the main thrust of the Bank’s monetary policy which is to hold policy is situ until the unemployment rate hits the 7% threshold.
Meanwhile, BoE chief economist Spencer Dale along with fellow BoE Monetary Policy Committee board members Charlie Bean and Ben Broadbent explained in their testimony that the key question is whether or not productivity picks up as unemployment falls but if wage growth outstripped labour productivity that it would become a concern.
On the subject of the UK housing market, Governor Carney indicated that near-term momentum in house price growth has been sustained but is broadening but again pointed out that current housing starts in the UK, at an annualised pace of 117,000, are still comfortably below pre-crisis levels.
In contrast, the US dollar is back under pressure ahead of tomorrow’s Thanksgiving holiday despite some mixed economic data.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence barometer for the month of November fell sharply from a reading of 72.4 in October to a 70.4 level in November.
In contrast, the Case/Shiller Home Price Index rose a better than expected 13% on an annualised basis with building permits climbing by 6.2% in October from the previous month, to register their highest level since mid 2008.
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