Dollar a little softer again

The dollar continues to give up some of its recent gains. It is trading just shy of $1.24 against the euro and at over $1.39 against the sterling, while it fell below Y107 against the Japanese yen for a time overnight before recovering some ground

It was a mixed day for bond yields in the core markets though the moves generally were modest. In the US, 10-year yields came off their highs, falling by around 3bps, while equivalent yields in Germany and the UK were marginally higher. Stocks, too, were mixed, with US indices closing slightly higher on the day but European indices shedding around 1%

Annual CPI inflation in the UK dipped to 3.0% in January (from 3.1% in December), though this was slightly higher than the market expected. The Bank of England sees inflation hovering around 3% for a while yet before decelerating gradually later this year

The focus for markets today will be on CPI inflation data due in the US. The consensus forecast is for both the headline and core rates to have dipped in January, to 1.9% and 1.7% respectively

Other data due today include a second estimate of Euro area GDP growth in the final quarter of 2017 and retail sales for January in the US