Canadian Manufacturing Sales figures up in May [Video]

Today's Highlights

• Canadian Manufacturing Sales figures up in May

• Markets brace for European Central Bank meeting

Current Market Overview

Yesterday was very light for key data.  The only piece of significance came from North America, as Canadian Manufacturing Sales month-on-month beat forecasts with 1.1% and US Building Permits beat forecasts at 1.25 million against an expected 1.20 million. Sterling dropped only 0.3% as a result.  It has since bounced back over 1.30 to remain within its most recent trading range of 1.29-1.31.

Otherwise, the market was quiet across the board for the Pound. However, today could be a different story. UK Retail Sales data was released at 9.30am today, showing a 1.5 percent increase in volume across all store types. While an increase on the previous figures was expected in light of the good weather and other contributing factors, this is welcome news, following the 1.4 percent drop we saw from January-March 2017, so we’ve basically come back up to the levels from the beginning of the year. These improved figures could help allay some concerns about the impact of the wage squeeze on consumer spending. It’s also good news for the Pound, which is holding steady and hovering around 1.30 against the USD and 1.13 versus the Euro.

In the afternoon, we have the EU rate decision, followed by a European Central Bank Monetary Policy Committee speech by Mario Draghi. Expectations that the central bank could scale back support for the economy have been growing in recent weeks. Today, Draghi could hint at either raising interest rates from 0% or more likely start reducing the size of the quantitative easing programme, which currently stands at 60 billion Euros per month. If either of these happen, we should see the EUR strengthen. More clarity on the timing of the stimulus withdrawal is expected at the 7th September meeting. We then have US Unemployment Claims data and the US Manufacturing Index release, also at 1.30pm.