It’s April, so expect a surge in energy bills for the foreseeable future as the war in Ukraine fails to dwindle. As it stands Russia has been hit with soo many sanctions, affecting everything from their manufacturers, finance, private wealth, energy and technology, yet the real kickback seems to be heavier on the West. So the real question is, how many more sanctions can be thrown at Russia?
BoE Governor Andrew Bailey held a speech earlier yesterday which failed to make an impact on sterling rates with the main takeaway being his statement that crypto is the new “front line” in criminal scams.
The euro has found itself range-bound between 1.09 -1.11 against the dollar, mainly due to the continued attacks in Ukraine where progression in peace talks seems to be the only missing thing. Euro weakness pushed the pound higher, however, major central banks are focused on how they can move in alignment with the Fed’s aggressive rate hike plan to avoid losing ground against the dollar. With expectations pricing in successive 50bps hikes, we can only expect to see the dollar strengthen against counterparties.
PMI figures for the UK come out this morning with U.S ISM data later this afternoon. As we know ISM is a leading indicator for the U.S economy and as a result the S&P 500, the greater reading compared to 50 the greater indication of a growing economy.