020 7898 0500Despite some worrying news from Carillion, the pound continued its recent surge against the dollar to reach fresh highs. Indeed, the levels it finished the day on were the highest seen since the Brexit vote. While there are some tangible reasons for sterling strength (particularly to do with the City’s hopes for a soft Brexit), it is less clear why the dollar should be in a position of weakness against a basket of currencies.
Yesterday was otherwise quiet (apart from Carillion going into liquidation), but today is much busier as we will see the inflation rate for December. It currently stands at 3.1% and is expected to dip to 3%. However, it would be positive news if it came in below that, as the gap between wage growth and inflation would be narrower than expected which would ease some pressure on UK households – at least for the time being.
We will also have the release of the retail price index on a month-on-month and year-on-year basis.
