020 7898 0500Yesterday we alluded to the fact that the dollar didn’t strengthen as one might expect following extremely positive non-farm payrolls data and actually fell back against sterling. However, while the currency markets didn’t appear to be too impressed, the stock markets were, with the Nasdaq index hitting a fresh record high following optimism surrounding the strong jobs report.
It appears as if investors are not quite as concerned over the possibility of a trade war as they were last week. However, this is not to say one isn’t forthcoming, especially given that Trump approved the steel and aluminium tariffs last week. It is a situation to watch for developments and we could see volatility in currency and stock markets if other countries begin to impose levies on imports.
Today we have the inflation rate due for release which crept above 2% last month (the figure was 2.1% when 1.9% had been forecast). It will be interesting to see whether this figure climbs higher year-on-year.
