Services PMI data from yesterday surprised in case of Great Britain and US. UK PMI have risen to 59.1 from 57.7 previously and have beaten consensus by whole 1.0 point. Also US reading was much better that prior one with 58.7 vs 56.0 and 56.6 expected.

Moreover, New Zealand employment data showed significant decline in unemployment rate from 6.0% to 5.6%! However, traders are now focused on declining prices of dairy products and possible impact to NZ economy.

In an interview which showed up yesterday, Dallas Fed president – Richard Fisher – said that FOMC is heading good direction. Fisher is considered as a FOMC hawk and he opts for earlier rate hikes and policy normalization. He believes that near zero rates and QE have harmed markets and are cause pathologies. Given the fact, that FOMC is leaning toward his view, he didn’t dissent during last FOMC meeting on 29-30 July. However, Plosser, the other FOMC hawk, dissented from statement because in his opinion tone of forward guidance isn’t appropriate anymore.

Bob Jagendorf | Creative Commons License

Today we’ve started with German Factory Orders which came in bad shape -3.2% vs -1.6% month earlier. This reading stands in line with other indicators showing slowdown in German production. People who trade EUR should also watch Italian GDP reading today at 9:00 GMT. Possible soft result may increase pressure on single currency.

Further today main focus will be on UK which will publish manufacturing and industrial production numbers at 8:30 GMT. Moreover, today at 2 p.m. NIESR will come with GDP growth estimate for previous 3 months. Given BoE meeting scheduled on tomorrow, these readings have special meaning.

UK GDP growth by NIESR
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