Market movers today
In the UK, the key release today is the labour market report for June. Average weekly earnings growth has decreased in recent months and the subdued wage growth highlights the lack of underlying inflation pressure, diminishing the likelihood of a rate hike by the Bank of England for the remainder of 2017. We expect the unemployment rate to stay unchanged.
In the euro area, focus is on the first release of Italian Q2 GDP figures, where we expect growth of 0.4% q/q in line with positive signals from leading indicators such as PMI. Although we project the modest economic recovery in Italy to continue, with annual GDP growth of 1.4% this year, risks are still looming in the background for the country - see also Significant Challenges for Italy: All you need to know about key issues , 14 August 2017.
The minutes from the FOMC meeting in July are due for release in the US. Focus will remain on the discussions of the timing of quantitative tightening (we still expect tightening to be announced in September) and any comments on how concerned the Fed is about the low inflation which it now describes as 'below 2%' (previously 'somewhat below 2%').
Today the UK government will publish a position paper on possible solutions to the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland following Brexit.
To read the entire report Please click on the pdf File Below: