020 7898 0500Sterling lost some ground against the euro on Friday following Theresa May’s speech. As further testament that May is stuck between a rock and a hard place, she received praise and criticism from remainers and Brexiters. Perception really is everything right now, but the important thing in the future will be what becomes reality in terms of the final Brexit deal. Overall, the pound lost almost two cents against the single currency throughout the week.
Construction PMI was encouraging and came in above forecast, while Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave a speech in which he talked a bit about cryptocurrencies. He said that they should be regulated to prevent illegal activities and protect the financial system. He added that while cryptocurrencies do not yet pose a threat to financial stability, this could change if more people started investing in them.
Today we will see new car sales for February and you do have to wonder whether they will decline once more. 2017 was not a great year for UK car sales and they slipped by 6.3% last month. Could this trend be reversed this time around? We will also see the Markit services PMI which is expected to rise to 53.4 in February from 53 the month before.
