020 7898 0500The main focus this week was on the televised US presidential election debate, where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed on almost every topic. With the election fast approaching on November 8th and the polls suggesting it could still be a closely fought race, the markets will be increasingly nervous about which way the result could go.
The US dollar strengthened marginally yesterday as US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – a measure of growth – for the second quarter of 2016 was revised up to 1.4%. This saw an increase of the previous report of 1.1%, helping the US dollar gain against the majority of its counterparts.
Federal Reserve Member Lockhart said on Thursday that it ‘is a question of when rather than if the US raise rates’. However, the markets have heavily priced in this scenario already, so the comment had little effect on the USD dollar’s relatively strength.
Durable goods orders were flat in August, a slight improvement on expectations for a decline. July’s increase was revised down and core orders, that are indicative of business investment, were basically flat.
Today we shall see a number of personal consumer data releases in the US which, if positive, will provide the Federal Reserve with the belief that the heavily-led consumer economy can withstand another rate hike. This would help provide further support for a rate hike taking place this year.
