Dear Reader,

Today's overview of economic news and market action:

• Investor sentiment was somewhat mixed yesterday …
• Currency-wise, sterling was on the back-foot, amid a softening in UK rates …
• Sees EUR/GBP open this morning in the top half of 86-87p …
• GBP/USD is operating down in the lower half of $1.29-1.30 …
• EUR/USD remains in the lower half of $1.12-1.13 …
• Busy data schedule on both sides of the Atlantic, but unlikely to impact on currency markets …

Holy Grail Coming into View ?

Markets are becoming increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve will manage to engineer a soft landing for the US 

Fed’s Last Tango

Markets are becoming increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve will manage to engineer a soft landing for the US economy. 

Strongest deterioration in Irish manufacturing sector performance for over three years in June

Amid ongoing demand weakness, Irish manufacturing firms continued to see a decline in the health of the sector during June.

Economic data, especially on labour markets, have generally surprised to the upside in 2023, though GDP growth was sluggish in Q1.

Global economy still facing considerable headwinds  Central banks remain on rate tightening path, though Fed and ECB appear to be nearing end of their hiking cycle. BoE has further to go, with markets pricing in another 150bps of UK rate hikes