Separate report on BBA Mortgage Approvals also missed market forecasts on a figure of 37,300 and showed that number of mortgage approvals was 36,700 in November. As for Final GDP data UK gross domestic product in volume terms was estimated to have increased by 0.7% between Q2 2014 and Q3 2014, unrevised from the previous estimate of GDP published 26 November 2014.
Sterling still remains on the downside, as it it is quite uncertain when BoE will raise its interest rates. At the moment we cannot expect that this will happen before the third quarter of 2015 as the beginning of the year will be marked by deflation concerns with inflation increasing by only 1.0% last month, but also with parliamentary elections that are scheduled for May.
This week markets will be looking at:
Nationwide HPI (Friday)
Manufacturing PMI (Friday 10:30)
Net Lending to Individuals (Friday 10:30)