Euro slips again

The euro has slipped further against the dollar, amid a continuing slide in equities and a rally in core bond markets, and is trading this morning at around $1.1125, which is within a whisker of its 2019 to date low set a little under a week ago. Sterling is also drifting lower against the dollar, leaving it once again pretty much unchanged against the single currency at just over 88p

ECB member Quindos says “the process of (monetary policy) normalization continues but the (economic) outlook is much more challenging than it was”, adding the “the real risk would be an escalation toward a sort of fully-fledged trade war, (which) would be detrimental to the global economy, to the euro-area economy,”

Inflation in Spain fell quite sharply in May, to 0.9% from 1.6% in April, which coming on top of the decline in French inflation reported earlier in the week suggests inflation for the Euro zone as a whole will fall back again this month after jumping to 1.7% in April

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has indicted he’d be prepared to vote to bring down a government that was deliberately pursuing a policy of leaving the European Union without a deal, saying “the national interest trumps the party interest. If I’m presented with a difficult choice, I will act in the best interests of the country”

Data due today includes a second estimate of first quarter GDP growth in the US, with the latest weekly jobless claims and the April trade balance scheduled there as well