British shoppers keep on spending as retail sales beat forecasts; FTSE 100 faces uphill struggle
Emerging divide at the US Federal Reserve over tightening monetary policy lifts the pound against the dollar FTSE 100 opens in the red as sterling advances; B&Q-owner Kingfisher falls most on second-quarter sales drop UK retail sales growth slows to 0.3pc; narrowly beats expectations 10:48AM Eurozone inflation remains steady at 1.3pc, in line with expectations Eurozone inflation remained steady at 1.3pc in July Eurozone inflation remained steady at 1.3pc in July, coming in line with expectations, Eurostat has just revealed. Eurostat said that the largest upward impacts on inflation came from accommodation services and package holidays while falling telecommunication and fruit and vegetable prices pulled down the figure most. The currency markets remain largely unimpressed with today's data. The euro has shown little reaction to the latest release with the pound trading 0.1pc higher at €1.0989 against the currency. Investors might be holding off until the latest ECB meeting minutes drop at 12.30pm but given recent reports that the central bank's president Mario Draghi will not, as was expected, reveal the winding down of the ECB's bond-purchasing programme at the Jackson Hole conference later this month, few clues are likely in the latest release. That said, little to upset the markets was expected in the Fed's minutes last night either. 10:31AM Retail sales data completes trio of better-than-expected macro releases Will the gap between inflation and wage growth continue to narrow? The UK economy has run the gauntlet of economics releases reasonably well this week. None of the inflation, wage growth or retail sales data releases have blown away the markets but all three paint a slightly rosier picture than expected. Here's a quick recap if you've missed any of it sunning yourself in Marbella: Inflation held at 2.6pc on Tuesday despite expectations that the squeeze on households would be ...Read the rest of this story
