Published: 25/10/2024 By ECAP
The British Pound recovered some much-needed ground yesterday amid hopes that the UK Autumn Budget next week will boost investment. In fact, the optimism has boosted Sterling, allowing the British currency to shrug off yesterday’s downbeat PMI data. Although October’s preliminary PMIs showed service sector activity slowing to an 11-month low, Sterling is still attracting support.The Euro edged slightly higher as investors digested the latest economic activity data from the eurozone region. Although French composite PMI fell to 47.3 in October from 48.6 in September, German data offered some hope, with the country’s composite PMI release rising to 48.4 in October, up from 47.5 the previous month and the expected 47.6. While below 50, and thus still in contraction territory, the data pointed to an improvement in the region’s most important economy.
The U.S. Dollar slipped slightly lower yesterday but remained close to three-month highs, underpinned by expectations for a slower pace of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve ahead of the upcoming US presidential election. Markets are currently pricing in just short of 50-basis points of cuts for the rest of the year, pointing to a likely cut of 25 bps in November.
Data supplied by GC Partners