W/C 26th July 2010: HiFX plc: Marketwatch: Market briefing

Market briefing

UK DATA

LAST WEEK:

Last week the public sector borrowing data was released and exposed the highest levels of Government borrowing since records began and pushed up the level of net debt to 63.9% of GDP, which is the highest on record.
We also saw the minutes from the Bank of England monetary policy meeting when they left rates on hold that showed that they considered and discussed both modest easing and tightening and highlighted that growth was likely to be weaker than previously expected.
Q2 GDP surged by 1.1%, far stronger than expectations, helped by a jump in construction.

THIS WEEK:

US DATA

LAST WEEK:

Last week saw Bernanke give greater weight to uncertainty in his testimony on the economy as his confident view of recovery has now been replaced by a more cautious tone and wary of downside risks.

THIS WEEK:

EU DATA

LAST WEEK

Last week saw further signs that a more competitive currency is giving the economy in the euro zone a welcome boost with industrial orders jumping in May by 3.8%, up a massive 22.7% from a year ago.
Germany continues to flex its muscles as a global economic power house with retail sales jumping by 3% in May and the manufacturing and service sector surveys all pointing to heightened activity of late.
The stress tests of the European banks were released with only 7 banks failing.

THIS WEEK:

Country	Current rate	Last change	Date of change	Next meeting
UK (MPC)	0.50%	-50bps	05/03/09	5th August
US (FED)	0.00-0.25%	-75bps	16/12/08	10th August
EU (ECB)	1.00%	-25bps	07/05/09	5th August