Dollar a touch softer

The dollar is a touch softer against the euro and sterling again this morning, trading close to $1.13 and near $1.3550 respectively, while the single currency-pound exchange rate is hovering just below 83.5p

European and US equity markets chalked up some more gains yesterday with the former adding to these at the start of today’s session, while government bond yields are largely unchanged with German 10-year yields remaining in positive territory at 0.01% and equivalent UK and US yields at around 1.30% and 1.79% respectively

Fed member Bullard says the five quarter point increases in US interest rates that markets expect for this year “is not too bad a bet right now”, though he adds that “a lot is going to depend on how inflation develops during the year”

The flash reading for Euro area inflation is published later this morning – the consensus expects the annual rate of inflation to have fallen back to 4.4% last month from 5% in December, with the core – or underlying – rate seen dipping to 1.9% from 2.6%

Other data due today includes the ADP employment survey in the US