A bad week for the dollar

The euro and sterling both gained quite a bit of ground against the dollar last week, strengthening by 4 cents and 4.5 cents respectively, and kick off this week trading at $1.03 and just shy of $1.18, while the single currency-pound exchange rate is hovering around 87.5p at the start of play today

Government bond yields fell over the course of last week, with US 10-year yields retreating by the best part of 35bps to 3.80% (though they have nudged up in overnight trading in Asia) and equivalent UK and German yields about 20bps and 15bps lower at 3.35% and 2.15% respectively

US equity markets closed out Friday with gains of around 1% for the day and 6% for the week as whole, while European stocks chalked up weekly gains of almost 5%

Fed member Waller says the central bank still has “a ways to go” before it stops raising interest rates, notwithstanding last week’s CPI report showing a further decline in headline inflation in October

ECB’S Nagel says he will “advocate further increases in interest rates…in order to bring the high inflation rates down again”, adding that “monetary policy must send out clear signals and have staying power”

Consumer confidence in the US slipped back in November according to the University of Michigan measure published on Friday, having risen in each of the previous four months

Data due this week include labour market (Tuesday), CPI inflation (Wednesday) and retail sales (Friday) in the UK, while the Chancellor of the Exchequer presents the keenly waited Autumn Statement on Thursday