“Super Thursday” for the GBP and FTSE
|Today's Bank of England rate decision coincides with the release of the inflation report, with the quarterly event traditionally being dubbed "Super Thursday". Due to Brexit secretary David Davis also presenting MPs with a formal policy paper setting out the strategy behind the government's Brexit strategy around the same time, today could be even more super, with the potential for extremely volatile in the pound. The currency is trading a little softer so far this morning falling against all its major peers barring the US dollar, which is depreciating across the board following the FOMC last night.
MPs overwhelmingly back Article 50 bill; white paper imminent
Last night saw the government's European Union Bill pass through the House of Commons with a majority of 384. The bill, supported by the Labour leadership, allows Prime Minister Theresa May to get Brexit negotiations underway, with a white paper set to be published around Midday. It will be interesting to see whether the paper goes into much more detail than Mrs. May's speech last month which outlined her main objectives when negotiating the UK's separation from the 27 EU member states.
UK construction sector slowing down?
The second of three surveys amongst purchasing managers in key industries this week was released this morning and showed an unexpected fall in the pace of expansion for the construction sector in January. Whilst a reading of 52.2 still represents growth it is significantly lower than the 54.2 seen last time out and has seen the pound experience some small scale selling in the immediate reaction. The GBPUSD had broken higher to trade at levels not seen since mid-December early on, but this economic release saw the pair turn lower after briefly popping above the 1.27 level.
FTSE seeks traction after recent declines
The leading UK stock market is higher by 10 points on the day after falling to its lowest level of the year shortly after the open. The price of Gold bullion has broken up to trade at its highest level in over 11 weeks and this has given Randgold Resources and Fresnillo a boost, with the stocks higher by 3.40% and 1.65% respectively. The drop in the US dollar following a fairly neutral FOMC statement last night has also boosted mining stocks with Anglo American and Glencore both firmly in the green, whilst a positive reaction seen in oil benchmarks to a large build in US inventories has contributed to the rally seen in Royal Dutch Shell which is up by almost 2% at the time of writing. Worldpay currently sits at the foot of the index and is lower by more than 4.5% on the day after news has broken that private equity investors have sold their entire stake worth over £600 million in the payment processing company.
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