Time to woo the voters
Today's news headlines:
‘Sunak aims to woo Britain’s business leaders in corporate reset’.
PM Rishi Sunak is laying on a charm offensive for business leaders in direct contrast to his predecessor Boris Johnson. All the while, Labour has made meaningful inroads with business in the back end of 2022 and is now leading opinion polls. 32% of large business respondents say Labour is better for business vs 26% for Conservatives; Labour also leads by 8% and 6% for medium and small business polls, respectively. (Financial Times)
‘Central London house prices suffer biggest annual fall since 2019’.
Central London house prices showed a decline of 5% in the 12 months leading to March 2023 and are back at 2021 levels. Higher mortgage rates haven’t dinted the second homeowner and buy-to-let crowd to the extent expected, although it takes time for higher rates to feed through to costs due to fixed-term mortgages. That said, this article stresses the overall level of demand is based on London’s ‘brand’ as a financial capital. (Financial Times)
Today
The US Dollar Index remains flat, but US yields are rising; the two-year is now once again at 4.25%. UK yields are also climbing after the persistent inflation reading; the two-year yield is now approaching 3.8%. Sterling is rising while EUR remains flat. Today is a relatively quiet data day, with a few central bankers speaking this evening.
Events
UK CPI y/y: 10.1% vs 10.4 last month
UK RPI y/y: 13.5% vs 13.8% last month
UK HPI y/y: 9:30 AM
US Beige Book: 7:00 PM
UK MPC Member Mann speaks: 10:30 PM
US FOMC Member Goolsbee speaks: 10:30 PM
Interbank rates*:
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GBP/USD – 1.2450 |
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*Indicative interbank rates taken on the day of writing. Please speak to your Dealer to find out the current rates available for you.