Afternoon Market Update – 02/02/2017 – by Jazz Singh
February 2, 2017A somewhat lacklustre Bank of England has seen the pound plummet from its session highs. Despite outlining an increased concern about inflation, weaker than expected price growth forecasts disappointed the market. The currency has declined some 1 percent so far this session. Not necessarily market moving but the UK government’s white paper on Brexit was published this afternoon, with its contents predominantly based on the 12 points made by PM May last week. The greenback has continued its sell off from yesterday’s session, declining 0.4 percent on the dollar index. We see a risk off sentiment in the equity space, with Deutsche Bank stock falling some 5 percent after quarterly data for the bank disappointed. Gold continues its leg higher from the past week, adding over 1 percent today. Elsewhere in the commodity complex we see crude rising off the back of output cuts by Russia, the largest non-OPEC oil producer. Nothing of note left on the calendar for today as we look ahead to tomorrow’s NFP numbers.
