UK Services and EU GDP among currency news today

Yesterday turned out to be a quiet one on the market, with no surprises from the Australian reserve bank holding their interest rates, and UK PMI construction figures showed healthy growth despite the treacherous weather conditions in the last month. Markets were also perhaps subdued as the crisis in Ukraine stayed on a diplomatic, rather than military, course.

Today however we have a number of possible market-moving pieces of news due out, starting with UK services growth at 9.30am. This is the flip side of yesterday’s manufacturing growth, and consensus is for a reading of 58, where anything above 50 represents growth. The Pound is vulnerable to any lower number than this, and following swiftly on we have European GDP at 10.00am which is expected to be at around 0.5% for 2013. At the same time, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is up to see a Select Committee to go through the Bank’s recent inflation report, and Eurozone retail sales are also announced this morning.

This afternoon, the Bank of Canada sets interest rates for the month and non-manufacturing business conditions in the USA are surveyed too.

All in all if you are sending money abroad don’t forget that most currencies are still enjoying very healthy levels and that you can fix and thereby guarantee an exchange rate up to 2 years ahead with Currency Index. Give us a call if you would like to know more.