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The UK suffered a slump in figures for October’s manufacturing sector, which surprised the markets as investors were expecting a continual rise. The figures, which showed a 0.9% drop against September’s 0.6% rise, impacted GBP throughout the day and clawed back Sterling’s positive move upwards over the past week.
Meanwhile, Theresa May is being pressed to publish her Brexit plans, as the number of MPs voting to see some plan of action has largely risen. Even though the majority are still in favour of pushing the Article 50 button early in 2017, there still is a need to clarify exactly how the British government will play their next move.
Spotlight on the ECB
The European Central Bank are in the spotlight today, as it considers extending its bond purchasing programme. All attention will be focused on Mario Draghi as an afternoon of volatility in the FX markets could ensue. Even though the ECB is expected to stick with its QE programme of purchasing €80bn of bonds, the lengthening of the stimulus could see the euro weaken as investors price in the move in the early hours of trading.
Unexpected news in Australia and India
In other news, Australian Gross Domestic Product fell for the first time in over 5 years, as investment into the Housing market and business fell sharply. The third quarter of GDP fell to -0.5% from previous 0.5% and AUD has taken a hit this morning.
In India, RBI governor Urjit Patel announced a surprise hold of the interest rates. A cut was expected as economic growth is likely to fall in the short to medium term. The final decision to keep the rates unchanged may have been based on the possible US rate increase expected this month. Surprisingly, a number of journalists were excluded from the meeting, but there is still clarity as to why.
Today’s market moves, barring the above, may rest on the Brexit in Supreme Court as live information can feed through to market movers, and on US Initial Jobless Claims.
