Markets prepare for busy week end.

The FX markets braced for a busy finish to this week with plenty of releases that could affect the price of the USD, GBP and EUR before week’s end.

GBP (British Pound): The GBP continued its slow decline this week falling to a low of just below 1.2140 on GBP/USD overnight. The main release for this week will be UK GDP released on Friday morning. This figure will provide insight into how well the UK economy is doing as it looks to avoid a potential recession.

Tomorrow we also have the nationwide housing prices showing the value of UK property. This will indicate current movements in the housing market and is considered as a sensitive factor to the UK’s economy.

EUR (Euro): For the EUR we have EU consumer confidence tomorrow which will indicate the level of consumer confidence in overall economic activity. Following on from this we have German retails sales on Friday showing the rate of change in the German retail sale sector.

Finally, on Friday we have the harmonized index of consumer prices for the EU showing the changes in prices throughout the Eurozone. This is seen as a good measure of inflation within the region and will influence economic policy moving forward.

USD (United States Dollar): The USD continued to strengthen ahead of the release of US GDP tomorrow. This will have a large influence of the value of the USD as it shows the overall health of the US economy from a growth standpoint. This is followed by a speech from Fed chairman Powell who will be reacting to these GDP and could shed light on future monetary policy.

On Friday we have personal consumption expenditures showing the changes in personal spending and earnings. This will be followed by the consumer confidence survey for the US which will influence the US spending moving forward.