Good Morning,
A quiet (ish) 24 hours as the market consolidates after last week's mayhem.
The greenback has slipped from an eight-month high against a basket of currencies as traders take profits on the U.S. currency's surge this month as oil and commodity prices have pushed back a little higher. Property in the US however remains extremely competitve compared to the international property scene generally.
Worries also remain that a bailout of U.S. mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could pose further risks to an already battered financial system and this has given a reality check and made investors more cautious on further Dollar purchases.
However, the fact remains that slowing global growth is expected to lead to interest rate cuts by central banks outside the United States, such as the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia whereas the Federal Reserve is seen as more likely to raise interest rates next year to fight inflation. Data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. producer prices jumped in July at the fastest annual rate in 27 years.
UK Retail Sales just out showed a more positive number than expected for July with a 0.8% rise versus forecasts of - 0.3% but this was tempered with an increase in June's record fall and has had little impact on GBP thus far
The next 24 hours could prove very interesting though with US Leading Indicators out later today and Eurozone Trade figures and UK GDP out tomorrrow. Every little bit of data now is going to be examined for interest rate clues.