UK political events to the fore

UK political events were to the fore again yesterday. Sterling was on the back foot following the resignation of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, falling to almost 89p versus the euro for a period before recovering some ground. The euro was largely unchanged against the dollar at $1.1750

ECB president Mario Draghi gave an upbeat assessment of the euro area’s economic prospects at a European Parliament committee yesterday, saying that underlying economic fundamentals remain solid. On the Euro area’s inflation prospects, he said that the improvement in inflation now appears to be on a self-sustained path, while underlying inflation is expected to rise as the economy continues to expand, capacity utilisation strengthens and the labour market tightens further

The UK’s new monthly GDP publication for the month of May is due for release later this morning. After poor weather dampened activity in the opening quarter of 2018, the latest high frequency data points to a pick-up in growth over the second quarter

Otherwise it is a relatively quiet day on the data front with UK trade balance the only other release of note due out