Money News Overview Tuesday 2nd April: US Dollar strengthens over the Easter Period. Pound steady against the Euro

Anticipation of the UK Budget and its Impact on Currency.

A nice busy day coming back from Easter.

Already released this morning we have had the UK House Price Index showing a 0.2 percent fall for March. The figures show that house prices are gradually coming down but probably not as fast as predicted. Over the past 12 months UK house prices are 1.6 above the previous year.

Later this morning we have French, German and EU PMI figures for the manufacturing sector. All sets of data will be closely watched for signs that the manufacturing sector is picking up.

For the UK, the consumer lending figures (i.e. mortgage approvals & lending) will give some further indications of lending conditions. Markets will also be keen to see if the housing market activity is picking up now that interest rates have thought to have peaked.

German CPI will be the main focus today, ahead of tomorrow’s Eurozone flash estimate. Already released French and Italian data point to downside risks to the Eurozone outturn.

To cap the day off, this afternoon for the US, we have Factory orders & JOLTS numbers due.

The dollar has continued to strengthen against the pound over the Easter weekend and was helped further after the ISM manufacturing report was released yesterday.

The pound to euro continues to look positive as expectations on the ECB cutting rates before the Bank of England are now almost fully priced in.

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