| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 08:30 | Germany | Manufacturing PMI | January | 43.3 | 43.7 | 45.4 |
| 08:30 | Germany | Services PMI | January | 49.3 | 49.5 | 47.6 |
| 09:00 | Eurozone | Manufacturing PMI | January | 44.4 | 44.8 | 46.6 |
| 09:00 | Eurozone | Services PMI | January | 48.8 | 49 | 48.4 |
| 09:30 | United Kingdom | Purchasing Manager Index Manufacturing | January | 46.2 | 46.7 | 47.3 |
| 09:30 | United Kingdom | Purchasing Manager Index Services | January | 53.4 | 53.2 | 53.8 |
GBP appreciated against other major currencies in the European session on Wednesday as investors lowered their expectations of Bank of England (BoE) rate cuts after better-than-anticipated UK PMI data.
S&P Global reported earlier this morning that its preliminary estimates showed the UK composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 52.5 in January 2024 from 52.1 in December 2023, exceeding economists’ forecast of 52.2. The January reading pointed to the strongest growth in Britain’s private sector output since June 2023, as service sector activity expanded at the fastest pace since May 2023, while manufacturing activity shrank at the weakest pace since April 2023, even as production reduced to the greatest extent for three months.
Noteworthy, S&P Global also noted that the British private sector businesses reported the first growth in employment in five months and the sharpest climb in input costs in five months.
Markets interpreted today’s data as increasing the likelihood of fewer and later interest-rate decreases by the BoE in 2024. According to Bloomberg, markets are now seeing 97 basis points of rate cuts this year, compared to about 130 basis points last week, with the first 25-basis-point reduction only fully priced by August, compared to June on Tuesday.