Fed rate announcement later today

Sterling remains under pressure although the pace of its decline against the euro and the dollar is slowing a bit, with the pound trading this morning at just over 91.5p and just over $1.2150 respectively. The UK and the EU remain poles apart on the backstop – the former says it has to go, the latter says it can’t /won’t – so if and until this issue is resolved it’s hard to see sterling regaining much if any of the ground it has lost over the last while. Amid all the focus on the pound, the euro is again little changed against the dollar trading at about $1.1150

Consumer confidence in the US rose strongly in July – to close to a record high – as very favourable labour market conditions, reflected in the unemployment rate at a multi-decade low, boosted sentiment

The annual inflation rate in Germany fell in July – to 1.1% from 1.5% in June – which will put downward pressure on the rate for the Euro Area (which stood at 1.3% in June) due to be released later this morning

House price inflation in the UK slowed to 0.3% year-on-year in July according to the Nationwide index,  down from 0.5% in June and just shy of its most recent low of 0.1% in January this year. Meanwhile, consumer confidence improved a little this month, according to the GFK indicator, but still remains relatively subdued

The Fed’s latest policy announcement  (at 7pm Irish time today) is the near-term focus for the market. As noted earlier in the week, the latter fully expects interest rates to be cut (by 25bps) and so will be more interested in what the signals about the likely path for rates beyond  today

Data due today include GDP, inflation and unemployment in the Euro Area