EUR

In Germany
the import price index remained flat for the month of December with zero
growth. This led the annual figure to decline to -2.3% for 2013. This figure is
good for their exporters whose costs of goods have declined however but will
also not help boost inflation as the costs of imported consumable goods had
also fallen.

GBP

EUR

In Germany
the import price index remained flat for the month of December with zero
growth. This led the annual figure to decline to -2.3% for 2013. This figure is
good for their exporters whose costs of goods have declined however but will
also not help boost inflation as the costs of imported consumable goods had
also fallen.

GBP

The British
economy grew at the strongest rate in six years in 2013, having ended the year
on a strong note as the recovery became more entrenched. Economic growth for
the final quarter of 2014 came in at 0.7% in line with analysts’ expectations.

The UK’s
services and manufacturing sectors were the drivers of 0.7% growth in the
fourth quarter, taking the annual growth rate to 1.9%, the strongest since 2007
before the financial crisis took hold.

USD

Orders for
durable goods slumped by 4.3% in December — the biggest monthly fall since
last July. Economists had expected that orders grew by 1.8% .December was a
grim month weather-wise in the US  with ice storms gripping almost the
entire country, and has already been blamed for recent poor employment figures
earlier this month.

The Richmond
Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index for January came in at 12 compared to expectations
of a level of 13. But the January consumer confidence index hit 80.7, much
better than the forecast 78.1. December’s figure however was revised down from
78.1 to 77.5.

Following
the weak durable goods numbers this will give the Federal Reserve something to
think about at its two day meeting that started yesterday. After which they
will then release their statement on Wednesday to determine if they are going
reduce their level of quantitative easing.

Today

Early this
morning  German consumer confidence for February came in at 8.2
significantly higher than Januarys figure of 7.7 .Nationwide reports that house prices rose by 0.7% in January, partly due
to more first-time buyers entering at the lower end of the market. That pushed
the annual house price inflation rate to 8.8%; its highest level since May
2010. At 12.15pm Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is making a speech to
discuss their forward guidance program, current unemployment levels in the UK
and the state of the economy.

This evening at 7pm we have the US Federal Reserve
announce their decision to reduce on quantitative easing from US$75bn
of asset purchases or keep it at current levels.

Key Announcements:

12.15pm – GBP – BoE Governor Mark Carney
Speech.

19.00pm – USD – Fed Interest Rate Decision
and Open Market Committee Meeting.