GBP: Carney reiterates that interest rates will rise soon…but will they?

After a good month for the pound, September ended on a bit of a flat note as there was a raft of disappointing data. The day began with the news that London house prices have fallen for the first time since the third quarter of 2009. Then came the release of UK GDP, showing that it rose by just 1.5% annually in the second quarter of 2017, against an expectation of 1.7%; the service sector was the only one that grew.

Sterling weakened against the US dollar as a result, almost hitting a two-week low. This was despite Carney’s comments that interest rates will probably rise soon.

It is a fairly quiet week for UK economic data although today sees the release of the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index. It fell last month and came below expectations so it will be interesting to see what the figure is. Tomorrow we have the construction PMI figure and on Wednesday the PMI for the Services sector. On Friday, we have the Halifax house price index.