Investors were really sitting on their hands this morning, unwilling to act until they’d got a glimpse of the UK retail sales reading and, more importantly, this evening’s Fed statement.
Despite the myriad of different macro-events fighting for attention – including a deadly earthquake in Mexico; the latest hurricane devastation in the Caribbean; Donald Trump’s sabre-rattling speech at the UN; and Boris Johnson’s Brexit boasting – the markets are only interested in one thing this Wednesday: September’s Federal Reserve meeting.
That sense of anticipation could make for a pretty dull day of trading. The FTSE is up 0.2%, but is yet to break the 7300 mark since falling below that level last Thursday. As for the pound, sterling is flat at $1.352 against the dollar and down 0.1% against the euro.
At least the UK has its latest retail rales data to try and prompt a bit of movement. Last week showed that real wages are continuing to fall, with a chunky – and persistent – gap between inflation and the average earnings index. Analysts, however, are only expecting retail sales to have dropped from 0.3% in July to 0.2% in August – though it is worth noting that such estimates don’t tend to be the most accurate.
Over in the eurozone there was a similar lack of, well, anything. The DAX remained unchanged at 12560, while the CAC nudged 0.1% higher to graze 5230. Unlike the UK, which livens the morning up with that retail sales figure, the eurozone has nothing to offer this Wednesday.
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