GBP
A report released Friday showed that  UK companies were the most
upbeat on business prospects of the year ahead, out of a group of major
countries surveyed in October. That comes despite future business activity
levels being at its lowest since June 2013 for both the manufacturing and
services sectors.
 
UK firms were also the most optimistic about hiring plans among major
economies. “The optimism suggests the UK will continue to outperform its

GBP
A report released Friday showed that  UK companies were the most
upbeat on business prospects of the year ahead, out of a group of major
countries surveyed in October. That comes despite future business activity
levels being at its lowest since June 2013 for both the manufacturing and
services sectors.
 
UK firms were also the most optimistic about hiring plans among major
economies. “The optimism suggests the UK will continue to outperform its
peers in 2015, albeit with growth slowing from that seen in 2014.

EUR
Mario Draghi strengthened his stimulus pledge for the euro area by saying the
European Central Bank can’t hold back in its fight to revive the economy.“We
will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as
possible, as our price-stability mandate requires,” the ECB president said at a
conference in Frankfurt in Friday. Some inflation expectations “have been
declining to levels that I would deem excessively low,” he said.

With the next policy meeting less than two weeks away and the region remaining
close to economic stagnation, Draghi is expected to step up efforts to convince
investors he’s serious about reigniting growth and inflation. The euro fell and
bond yields dropped on speculation the central bank is closer to buying
government debt in a full-scale quantitative-easing program.

Draghi explained that  “There is a combination of policies that will
work to bring growth and inflation back on a sound path”. And “If on its
current trajectory our policy is not effective enough to achieve this, or
further risks to the inflation outlook materialize, we would step up the
pressure and broaden even more the channels through which we intervene, by
altering accordingly the size, pace and composition of our purchases.”

Key
Announcements:

09:00 – EUR : IFO German Business climate expected to higher at 103.2
14:45 – USD : Flash services PM (Nov)I expected to be higher at 57.3 

Our dealers are available via e-mail ([email protected]) or by phone (020 7220 8181).