Sterling continues to trade in the doldrums, listlessly waiting for some data or sentiment to sway it one way or tother. It has however been unable to take advantage of poor dollar and euro data when it has been released.

US initial jobless claims rose 62k to 589k against a consensus view of 543k marking a continued decline in the US jobs market. Housing figures out of the US were atrocious as New Home Starts fell by 15.5% in December. Builders aren’t building any new houses as primarily there are not many people out there to buy them but also due to the increase in foreclosed properties going for whatever the bank can get. Building permits which are naturally a good indicator of upcoming construction are also down sharply indicating we may not have reached the bottom.

Data today is more of a foregone conclusion than me falling over tonight. UK GDP is expected to show that we are in, not just a technical recession, but a full-blown one. This will have been priced in heavily but due to the skittish nature of GBP over recent days further falls cannot be ruled out. UK car sales are also due today: further misery for the auto sector is expected.

The video update is new and going through some teething problems at the moment so I apologise for those who didn’t get to see my face yesterday: check out today’s at http://uk.youtube.com/user/WorldFirstJC

Have a great weekend.

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