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There was a shift in fortunes – well, sort of – on the UK markets this afternoon, while the US open once again did absolutely nothing for anyone.
The pound suffered the biggest change in direction this Tuesday. Having gotten hyped this morning for a double dose of MPC intrigue from Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane and deputy governor Ben Broadbent, the currency ended up bitterly disappointed that the rate hike elephant in the room wasn’t addressed by either man. This meant sterling switched from 0.2% to 0.3% gains against the dollar and the euro to being down 0.2% against both.
This in turn helped mitigate the FTSE’s own losses, which had crept above 50 points at lunchtime. Now it’s down around half that amount, aided by the latest reversal from Brent Crude – which remains incredibly scatty around $46 to $47 per barrel – but still hampered by the widened declines seen by Pearson and M&S.
Tomorrow finally sees some notable data to liven up what has been a deathly dull week, in the form of the UK jobs report. For May wage growth is expected to come in at a paltry 1.8%; that’s pretty weak at the best of times, let alone when inflation is at 2.9%. Sterling is going to need the average earnings index to pull out a pleasant surprise if it is to avoid lingering at 2-ish week lows.
