Quiet start to the week

It was a quiet start to the week in markets, with the US out on a public holiday. We did, though, see the euro retrace some of last week’s move lower against the dollar with the single currency trading close to  $1.18 this morning

Sterling also recovered a little ground against the euro and the dollar, having fallen against both last week. As the 5th round of Brexit negotiations got underway, PM May said the ball is in the EU’s court as regards moving things forward, though the EU responded that, in fact, the ball is very much in the UK’s court

Bond yields in the core markets were largely unchanged yesterday. Elsewhere, Spanish bond yields fell, reversing some of last week’s increase. Later today the Catalan President addresses its parliament, with reports that he may stop short of declaring independence for the region

According to the British Retail Consortium, the annual rate of increase in (like for like) sales on the UK high street picked up for a second consecutive month in September, to 1.9% from 1.3% in August (and 0.9% in July)

Looking ahead to today, Budget 2018 is presented here at home, while industrial output data for August are due in the UK. Also in the UK, the National Institute for economic research publishes its (unofficial) estimate of the pace of GDP growth in the 3 months to September – its estimate for the 3 months to August showed GDP grew by 0.4%