UK house prices slow

Today's Highlights

Federal Reserve confirms Taper plans

UK house prices slow

Australian unemployment data mixed

Chinese export demand rises

FX Market Overview

I drew the Netherlands as my team in the office sweepstake, so I am very disappointed in last night's penalty shootout result. Not as disappointed as the people who watched 120 minutes of excruciatingly boring football though.

Sterling remains flat after the RICS report showed a decline in house prices. Lower activity in the South East and more supply elsewhere in the country combined to drop the balance between estate agents reporting price rise and those reporting falls. The figure was still in positive territory but fell from +56 to +53. The Bank of England will announce interest rate and QE budget decisions at 11.00am GMT but please don't expect any change because we won't get any.

We had the release of the minutes from the last Federal Reserve interest rate setting meeting yesterday evening. The most interesting aspect was their stated intention to end their extended bond buying programme with a $15 billion cut in October this year. That will have set nerves on edge in many countries because the next step after that is the scaling back of other monetary stimulus measures. Cheap US money has fuelled share prices in many countries; not least the US. The Dollar hasn't reacted immediately but the effect may well be felt as we approach October. On a more positive note, the Fed saw no sign of rising inflation and there was little thought of interest rate hikes in the medium term.

We heard overnight that Australian unemployment levels improved last month. 15,900 fresh jobs were created in June. Due to a change in the numbers in the working population, the unemployment rate actually rose though from 5.9%^ top 6.0% and there was a clear shift as the construction sector picked up some of the slack produced by a shrinking mining sector and as part time work expanded while full time jobs declined. The Aussie Dollar was largely unmoved by the mixed results.

We also heard that Chinese exports rose by 7.2% in the year to June. That bodes well for China's suppliers because a rise in output fuels a rise in demand for raw materials. It also acts as a bellwether for the global economy. If demand for Chinese goods is on the up then that points to a brighter future elsewhere.

Inflation data from across the wider European area will hit us throughout the morning but these are rarely influential on an individual state basis. What may be interesting is the Italian Industrial production data at 08.00 GMT but we ca expect a relatively quiet day for the Euro.

This afternoon brings Canadian house price data and the US wholesale inventories data. It seems only the Federal Reserve is really interested in the latter. It rarely changes market sentiment. In essence, Thursdays could be the quietest day of the week. Excuse me; I'm off for a snooze.

I'll leave you with the news that all the sci-fi movies were right. An angler fishing on the Pripyat River, near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster has caught a huge mutant catfish and locals are reporting large numbers of the mega-fish in the area. Big fish make for a reasonable news story but I am interested in turtles with ninja skills. Anyone seen any of them?