Afternoon Market Update – 17/11/2016 – by Jaz Singh

Retail sales data from the UK beat expectations across the board this morning. Sterling continued its leg higher off the back of this news. However, this strength has not persisted with cable meeting resistance at 1.25. All but one of the Eurozone CPI data points came in as expected at 10:00 GMT; construction output was also inline for the area. Reaction from this data was muted as markets look towards the release of the ECB’s monetary policy meeting accounts this afternoon. The dollar has been on the back foot this session with the dollar index retreating 0.2 percent. This comes after the index reached highs last seen in 2003 during yesterday’s trade. Stocks are little changed today as we await Yellen’s testimony this afternoon. The DAX flirted with the 10,600 level before finding support, with US equity futures pointing towards a small gap lower at the US cash open.  Crude oil has continued its gains from yesterday following comments from Russia that discussions will be held with OPEC today; WTI currently trades near $46.70. The major data this afternoon shall come in the form of US CPI, expected to be a slight improvement from last month’s numbers.