GBP

No information was out of the UK yesterday but interesting
to note that the stock market in the UK is not performing well at the moment,
set for its worst week on week run since 2008. This is all on the back of fears
that the Federal Reserve will scale is quantitative easing (QE) program. Last
time there was talk of the Fed scaling back its QE program, stock markets
didn’t react as negatively as this, potentially indicating there is real
concern that the Fed could scale back QE.

GBP

No information was out of the UK yesterday but interesting
to note that the stock market in the UK is not performing well at the moment,
set for its worst week on week run since 2008. This is all on the back of fears
that the Federal Reserve will scale is quantitative easing (QE) program. Last
time there was talk of the Fed scaling back its QE program, stock markets
didn’t react as negatively as this, potentially indicating there is real
concern that the Fed could scale back QE.

AUD

The Australian dollar weakened off significantly at
around 2pm yesterday. The main reason for this is that the RBA Governor, Glenn
Stevens surprised the markets with a very negative tone. He said the economy
will probably not be influenced by further interest rate cuts. He thinks the
economy would fare much better if AUD/USD traded closer to $0.85.

GBPAUD climbed over 2 cents off the back of the
announcement. 

USD

A lot of information out from the US yesterday. The most
notable being retail sales which came in 0.7% month on month, compared with a
forecast of 0.6%, showing consumer spending is continuing to increase in
America.

Continuing jobless claims showed an increase from 2.75m
to 2.791m, so job figures were not as good as last weeks.

However investors brushed off the job data, focusing on
the figure from the retail sector, buying the US dollar causing it to
strengthen against the pound by approximately 0.5%.

Also in the US, the Republicans yesterday passed a
two-year budget plan extending government spending into 2015 removing the
threat of another shutdown before next year’s elections. It still has to pass
through Senate before it is signed into law, but nonetheless it does appear
that another hurdle has been passed to enable the Fed to taper its QE program.

EUR

Figures out from Eurozone yesterday showed that inflation
in Italy rose more than expected from 0.6% to 0.7%. Industrial production for
the Eurozone as a whole fell by 1.1% in October instead of rising by 0.3%.

Today

Bank of England policy maker Spencer Dale is scheduled to
talk at a Confederation of British Industry even in Essex today, employment
change data from the Eurozone is also scheduled for release and in the
afternoon, markets will be focusing on producer price inflation out from the US.

Key
Announcements:

10.00am – EUR – Employment Change (QoQ): Expected to
improve from -0.1% to 0.0%.

12.30pm – GBP – MPC Member Spencer Dale Speech.

13.30pm – USD – Producer Price Index (MoM): Expected to
improve from -0.2% to 0.0%.