And the hits keep on coming…



That is for sterling and the UK economy as Industrial production for January and manufacturing output came out much weaker than expected. Industrial output was -0.4% month on month and manufacturing output was -0.9%. Thus we have more negative feedback on top of yesterdays negatives to further reinforce the selling pressure on sterling. Gordon Brown was also speaking this morning on the UK economy; he affirmed that the recovery is in the early stages and remains fragile. There will be a budget in 2 weeks time which will set out more detail on deficit reduction- certainly needs to. As we have discussed sterling needs some clarity and so do the credit rating agencies.


Sterling is still under the 1.50 level against the USD and has dropped under the 1.10 level against the euro and is entrenched in a bearish trend.


Virtually nothing in respect of economic data ahead for today, however we will have comments from Central Bank members from the ECB & US. Tomorrow we have US jobless claims and Friday EU Industrial Production.