UK manufacturing data disappointed today, falling 0.9% versus an expected rise of 0.2%. In spite of this Adam Posen of the MPC has been on the wires with some fairly bullish comments overall for the UK.
Although he made the point that the trade deficit is unsatisfactory he remains confident that it will narrow. He highlighted [...]

The data calendar remains light today with rhetoric and sentiment continuing to dominate.  In that regard it is GBP that has had the majority of the press and speculation and in turn has been the major FX focus of the day so far. 
The major releases of the day have come from the UK:  The RICS [...]

This week has got off to a quiet start with little in the way of data to get the market excited.  Fridays better than expected US employment report gave the market a more risk friendly tone going into the weekend with equities performing well in the US on Friday and continuing into Asia overnight.
Greek bond [...]

Overnight data from Japan and Australia suggested that the broad improvement in the global economic backdrop continues to improve, lead largely still by the Asian markets.  Despite this Asian equities were lower in the session on the back of rumours that China were soon to announce a further rate hike.
The big story of the day however [...]

Is the fear of a hung parliament actually greater than the reality?
Sterling has suffered greatly over the last month as focus on the General election has increased the anxiety and uncertainty of a hung parliament and the perceived inherent problems that could bring to action on fiscal tightening.  But what if there were a hung [...]

An overnight poll from YouGov which shows the Sunday Times report of a dramatic narrowing of the Conservative lead appearing to be a blip, in conjunction with the culmination of a very large GBP sell order yesterday appears to have returned some stability to GBP today after what has been a very dramatic drop in [...]

The overnight revelations that Prudential is in advanced talks to acquire the Asian business of AIG, has dominated the proceedings in FX since the Asian open.  The deal is worth USD35.5B, of which £25B will be in cash (to be raised by a rights issue).  This would make the deal (in terms of cash) the [...]

As we move towards the close of the week there have been a few notable themes that are worth considering for the developments of the markets into March. 
One undeniable theme has been the significant underperformance of GBP.  On a trade weighted basis GBP has declined around 2% from Monday’s highs, with most of the move [...]

Although today has been quiet from a data perspective we have had some notable speeches and announcements, the implications of which are in some respects rather nuanced although negative sentiment continues to weigh on Sterling.
The US Treasury announced an expansion of the Supplementary Finance Program (SFP) to 200bn.  The program involves bond issuance by the [...]

This week has got off to a quiet start in financial markets, with a lack of data and the aftermath of position squaring due to the surprise US discount rate hike at the tail end of last week.
The weekend’s Sunday Times / YouGov poll showed the gap between the Conservatives and Labour at just 6 [...]