There were no major data releases from the UK yesterday. ank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe offered no hints on Thursday that he is likely to vote for higher interest rates soon, pointing instead to the central bank's guidance that rates are likely to rise in a gradual and limited fashion. Earlier this month investors were surprised when the Bank's chief economist Andy Haldane joined a minority of officials calling for an immediate rise in rates, boosting the chances of a hike in August. Cunliffe, asked in a BBC radio interview about the prospect that rates could rise from 0.5 percent to 2.5 percent within a couple of years, said: "Financial markets are assuming that interest rates go up by another three-quarters of a percentage point over the next couple of years."
In the US session GDP data was published. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the first quarter of 2018 according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.9 percent. In the second estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.2 percent. With this third estimate for the first quarter, the general picture of economic growth remains the same; private inventory investment and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) were revised down.
Tomorrow, from the UK, Current Account figures will be published. Analyst predict decline in surplus to £18 billion.
