There were no data releases from the UK yesterday. Sterling fell due to dovish comments from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. The BOE head said he had no set timetable for raising interest rates, warning of more damage to come from a slowing Chinese economy. Painting a gloomy picture of the global economy, the Bank of England governor declared that ‘now is not yet the time to raise interest rates’ in Britain. It came as China’s slowing economy recorded its weakest pace of annual growth for a quarter of a century and the International Monetary Fund trimmed its outlook for the rest of the world.
In the US session
Unemployment Claims and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index figures were published. In the week ending January 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted
initial claims was 293,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level. Analysts were anticipating decrease to 279,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 284,000 to 283,000. The 4-week moving average was 285,000, an increase of 6,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 278,750 to 278,500.
Philly Fed diffusion index for current activity increased from a revised reading of -10.2 in December to -3.5 and has now been negative for five consecutive months. Smaller increase to -5.8 was anticipated. The index for current new orders remained negative but increased 10 points, to -1.4.Firms reported an increase in shipments to begin the new year: The shipments index increased 12 points, its first positive reading in four months. Firms reported continued declines in inventories.
Tomorrow's session will bring Retail Sales and Public Sector Net Borrowing data from the UK. Analysts are forecasting 0.1% decrease in Retail Sales, while Public Sector Net Borrowing should decrease to 10.1 billion pounds. In the US session Existing Home Sales figures will be published. Incline to 5.21 million is anticipated.
Figures to watch:
Retail Sales (Friday 10:30)
Public Sector Net Borrowing (Friday 10:30)
Existing Home Sales (Friday 16:00)
