Daily Insight

Following on from Friday, Consumer Confidence in the UK unexpectedly fell last month, leading to concerns that the Bank of England may still have room to cut interest rates and Sterling was hampered further against the Euro after the EC Sentiment Index showed that confidence among European Executives and consumers rose to it's highest level in almost 5 years. On Friday afternoon, the Dollar was boosted on news that Personal Spending in the U.S. rose 0.1% in February and household income climbed 0.3%. Therefore, U.S Consumer Confidence rose quite dramatically to 88.9 from 86.7 in February due primarily to rising wages and the jobless rate being near it's lowest point in almost 4 years. In addition, Manufacturing rose more than anticipated last month as the U.S economy accelerated in the first quarter.

We have a significant week ahead of us in terms of data released and the focal point will be on Thursday when the ECB and the Bank of England announce their latest stance on monetary policy. Ahead of the announcement, the Euro is looking strong against the majors this morning and with the PMI surveys and the service sector expected to show a mild improvement in March, the ECB will be given plenty of justification in raising interest rates again.

In the UK, we have Manufacturing data released this morning, which forecasters are predicting to show a slight rise last month but the Bank of England are expected to keep interest rates at 4.50%, awaiting more evidence of a pickup in consumer spending and industrial production.

Data Released 3rd April

UK 09:30 PMI Manufacturing

EUR 09:00 PMI Manufacturing

U.S 15:00 ISM Manufacturing

U.S 15:00 Construction Spending

U.S 15:00 Pending Home Sales

written by Adam Solomon