Daily Market Report – 23/04/2015

GBP
The monetary policy committee announced yesterday a unanimous decision to keep
interest rates unchanged at 0.5%. The key announcement was all of the members
deciding that the next interest rate adjustment would be to the upside,
eliminating concerns over interest rate cuts due to low inflation. These
comments caused a sharp rally of the Pound,  gaining over 1% against both
the Euro and the Dollar.

GBP
The monetary policy committee announced yesterday a unanimous decision to keep
interest rates unchanged at 0.5%. The key announcement was all of the members
deciding that the next interest rate adjustment would be to the upside,
eliminating concerns over interest rate cuts due to low inflation. These
comments caused a sharp rally of the Pound,  gaining over 1% against both
the Euro and the Dollar.

Elsewhere in the news, the latest election polls showed the Conservatives
leading at 35% with Labour marginally behind at 34%.

EUR
There was market talk yesterday that despite
continued setbacks in negotiations between Greece and their European
counterparts, some progress is being made. Creditors have reduced demands for
Greece and say there could be scope for a potential short term Greek default in
order to allow more time for negotiations.

News coming out from Switzerland has had a negative impact on the Euro after
the SNB (SWIIS NATIONAL BANK) announced that more financial institutions would
be subject to negative interest rates, this is due to the ties between
Switzerland and the EU.

A positive note coming from the Euro-zone yesterday was the German Government
raising their growth forecast to 1.8% from 1.5% in 2015 and exports for year
increasing 4.7%. German economy minister ‘Gabriel’ says that weak Euro and oil
prices will drive growth and unemployment on the Euro zone.

USD
The US was given a boost yesterday as existing home sales came out
positive at 5.19 million against the consensus of 5.05 million, however
the housing price index remained in line with consensus at 0.7%. This is an
increase on the previous month and shows signs of a recovery in the U.S
property market. Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as
interest rates declined. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally
adjusted index of mortgage application activity rose 2.3 percent in the
week ended April 17. Despite lower mortgage rates, the gain was driven largely
by purchase applications.

Key Announcements
EUR: 9:00 – Markit Services PMI (APR) expected to
rise to 54.5 from 54.2
EUR: 9:00 – Markit manufacturing PMI (APR) expected to rise to 52.6 from 52.2
GBP: 9:30 – Public Sector Net Borrowing £6.216
USD: 1:30 – US unemployment claims

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