The Pound Fell Sharply. We Expect Statistics on the Labor Market in the US

Yesterday’s trades were very active. The main currency pairs showed a variety of trends. The dollar index (#DX) closed the trading session with a slight decrease (0.10%). The key event was the meeting of the Bank of England. The regulator, as expected, raised the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.50%. At the same time, the pound significantly weakened against the US dollar. The fall of GBP/USD quotations exceeded 200 points. In their comments, representatives of the Central Bank were cautious regarding further tightening of the monetary policy. The Bank of England plans to raise the interest rate gradually and to a certain extent.

Today, the attention will be focused on the labor market report in the United States. At the moment, most experts expect the improvement of the main indicator. It should be recalled that the preliminary statistics from ADP was optimistic. The number of initial jobless claims in the US, which ended on October 28, fell by 5,000 to 229,000 over the past week.

The Australian dollar is under pressure due to weak statistics. In September, the volume of retail sales remained at the same level. Experts expected the growth of the index by 0.4%. In October, the index of business activity in the services sector of China from Caixin increased from 50.6 to 51.2.

Market Indicators

The major US stock indexes are testing historical highs: #SPY (+0.04%), #DIA (0.33%), #QQQ (0.19%).

At the moment, the 10year US government bonds yield is at the level of 2.352.36%.

The index of business activity in the services sector of the UK at 11:30 (GMT+2:00);The report on the labor market in the USA at 14:30 (GMT+2:00);Statistics on the Canadian labor market at 14:30 (GMT+2:00);The index of business activity in the nonmanufacturing sector of the United States from ISM at 16:00 (GMT+2:00).

by JustMarkets, 2017.11.03