Sterling slips on Bank of England comments and new Monetary Policy Committee member [Video]

Today's Highlights

• Sterling slips on Bank of England comments and new Monetary Policy Committee member

• Reserve Bank of Australia minutes fail to weaken Australian Dollar

• New Zealand Consumer Confidence at a five-month high

Current Market Overview

In spite of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) being split 5-3 on interest rates, the Governor of the Bank of England (BoE) insisted last night that there was no need for interest rate hikes at this stage. His Mansion House speech was a surprise to the markets and the Pound slipped as a result. Sterling is only down a cent against the US Dollar and the Euro, so the markets seem to have been largely in agreement with Mr Carney, but his three colleagues who voted for a rate hike clearly don’t agree. And the appointment of another dove to the MPC contributed to Sterling’s slide. With Professor Silvana Tenreyro on the committee, that 5-3 could well be 6-3 – and that delays the next rate hike even longer.

Overnight, we had the publication of the minutes from the last Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meeting. The usual conversations took place. House prices are a worry, the strong Aussie Dollar likewise and the overall tone was quite dovish. The Australian Dollar would probably be a tad weaker against the Pound, were it not for the BoE comments. The GBP-AUD rate is a cent lower this morning.

The New Zealand Dollar is also stronger after Consumer Confidence figures were shown to have climbed to a five-month high in June. The strong NZ Dollar and a positive employment market are helping Kiwis to feel positive about their financial situation.

There is little in the way of hard data to focus on today, but there are plenty of central bankers and finance ministers speaking. Not least of which will be the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. After yesterday’s rather positive briefing following the first day of Brexit negotiations, there ought to be a warm fuzzy feeling amongst the EU and UK negotiating teams. No one resorted to violence and that’s a good thing.

On this day in 1840 Samuel Morse patented the telegraph which would use his code of dots and dashes. And in commemoration of that:   ... --- / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- ..- -. -.. / .- / - .-. .- -. ... .-.. .- - --- .-. / - .... . -/ It’s a coffee break challenge.

Joke

A man was locked out of his car. He had been trying everything to get in when a chap turned up, rubbed his backside up against the car door and it unlocked.
"How did you do that?" said the car owner.
The man shrugged "It's my trousers."
"What about your trousers?", says the car owner.
"They're khaki.".