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The Bank of England minutes are out today, where we will find out how many voted on holding interest rates two weeks ago. If we see more members of the MPC voting for an interest rate rise then it would naturally lead us to believe we will see more chances of a rate rise coming soon. The pressure of the news weakened sterling to below the 1.14 figure.

Yesterday we saw a flurry of EU data which swung the course of the euro up a touch from its recent weakening. We woke up with German PMI Manufacturing having risen while PMI services fell to below expected, this indicates the slowest expansion in services since October last year. Things didn’t really pick up from there as EU Consumer Confidence fell to -11.4 from -10.6, but there was one bright star in the dark firmament with the EU PMI Manufacturing which rose to 57.7. The PMI news could point towards a sustained economic recovery and surprised economists, as they expected the Portuguese bail-out and rising energy prices would dampen growth.

Greece held an auction of three-month treasury bills yesterday, and although the auction was successful the country had to pay a higher price, thanks to market stresses over a possible debt restructuring. Risk appetite was boosted after the successful sale of the bonds but the aftershock from the S&P warning on US debt are still being felt in the markets.

US housing starts have begun to recover in March after the drop in February, but we are told not to get too excited by this as the property market is still lagging behind. New construction was down 13.4% from a year ago which needless to say does not lend itself to a healthy real estate market.

The BoE minutes will be dominating today’s data releases but we can’t forget US Mortgage applications and existing home sales this afternoon.

 Latest exchange rates at time of writing