Sterling has kicked off the week with a steady climb against the Euro and fending off advances from the US Dollar following a mixed bag of data prints. The downside could come later in the week with speeches due from members of the Bank of England and GDP report from the UK due to release on Thursday.
Trump said over the weekend he was imposing 25% tariffs on Steel and Aluminum imports from today with all countries included, although he didn’t specify when these would be fully rolled out. In Fridays press conference President Trump also alluded to imposing reciprocal tariffs on countries who tax US imports.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to testify over the coming days, a prewritten statement will be read out in the first instance, which will be listened to for any clues on futures plans, however we could see increased volatility when the Q&A sessions start.
The Euro has little room to breathe in the current conditions as fresh tariff fears arise, markets will be taking a keen interest in what President Lagarde’s speech entails and if there are any indications on how the economic climate is shaping up and if there is any changes in the ECB and the course of rate cutting they are currently on. Markets still anticipate for the ECB to ‘outcut’ the US and take an over cautious approach when looking at the data.
Key things to look out for this week are:
Monday:
Christine Lagarde speaks
Tuesday:
Governor Andrew Bailey speaks
Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies
Wednesday:
Fed Chair Jerome Powell continues to testify
US Inflation Data released
Thursday:
UK GDP released
Friday:
US Retail sales
-Oakleigh Exchange Partners-