US holiday sees markets quieter

We saw revised growth forecasts for the UK yesterday when Chancellor George Osbourne, in his Autumn speech, announced that forecasts were being bumped up to 2.4% for next year from the 2.3% we’ve seen this year. GBP responded positively to this, hitting 1.4278 against EUR. It’ll be a quieter day in the UK today with no data released of importance and the US on holiday for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow will be more exciting as we see GDP numbers (quarterly) released.

We saw some weakness for the euro yesterday as it fell somewhat following a financial stability review by the ECB. Ending the day 0.45% down against the pound, some of this has been put down to the problems with the Chinese stock market which has made investors worried about investing in the global market and therefore risk‐adverse.

There isn’t much data to get excited about today from the Eurozone. What we will see is consumer confidence data out of Germany which is expected to come in at its lowest level since this time last year.

Across the proverbial pond, the US has had a quieter week leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday there today. Data yesterday showed positive durable goods orders and a drop in jobless claims, but there was also no indication that inflation will rise in the near future. Personal spending was also see to drop for last month despite a growth in wages. This should all change tomorrow with the advent of ‘Black Friday’ – the massive sales day – which should have plenty of American parting with their hard earned money.