Yesterday’s market movers

• There was no market data from Europe yesterday.

• In the UK we had the PMI construction out for February, this came out better than expected at 56.5 which helped sterling reach a fresh 13 month high against the USD.

• In the US we had the ADP employment change which was expected worse than previous. This actually came out better than expected and previous at 217k, as from past experience we understand that this figure has a direct correlation with the Non-farm payroll released on Friday and we could see an increase since the last figure.

Today’s market movers

• In the UK today we have the release of the PMI services figure. This is expected to come in slightly worse than previous, though still above the 50 mark to define it as positive. This is likely to have little effect on the market and it doubtful that it will stop the recent surge of GBP strength.

• In the EU we have a busy day with a number of key figures being released. The first, and most important, is the GDP figure. This is expected to come in better than expected both YoY and QoQ. This will add some strength to the Euro as it depicts a growing and healthier economy.

• Next from the Euro zone is the PMI services figure, this is expected to come out flat from the previous figure. It is likely to have little effect on the Euro as it doesn’t hold as much weight to the GDP as manufacturing does in the Eurozone.

• We also have the release of the Retail Sales figure coming out of the Euro zone. This is expected to come out positively as well with both the MoM and YoY figure coming out better than previous. If this comes in as expected it could be a bullish day for the Euro.

• The last piece of data from the Euro zone is the rate decision which is expected to remain the same.

• In the US we have a relatively quiet day with the only data of any importance being the release of the ISM Non-Manufacturing. This is expected to come out slightly improved and show that the business conditions in the US services sector are improving.