So Ricky Gervais has won again; his acerbic taunts towards the primped and preened stars at the Golden Globes clearly ruffled a few feathers and there can be no doubt they upset a few of the glitterati but everyone is talking about it; probably as much as the Colin Firth win, and that, as far as I can tell, is all Ricky Gervais ever wants.

A quiet day for data and a closed session for the US public holiday meant the markets were generally quite muted yesterday. However, the devil finds work for idle hands as they say and traders were definitely idle. The work they found to do was to sell the US Dollar which retreated against the Pound to the highest level we have seen in two months.

The Pound’s advance had a lot to do with this morning’s release of the UK inflation data. After a series of commodity price rises and higher producer price inflation, we expect the inflation number to have risen to 3.6% or thereabouts and that does reignite the debate over just what the Bank of England’s monetary policy is based on because it cannot still be an inflation only remit when their task is supposed to be about maintaining inflation at or near 2%; they are consistently failing in that endeavour. However no one is expecting any hike in UK interest rates before May. Nevertheless, if the BOE is expected to raise rates before the US Fed and the ECB, then Sterling could well strengthen further.

Sterling also gained ground against the Euro in spite of a growing feeling that the Eurozone Finance Ministers will agree measures to expand their financial support package and allay fears over the default of any of the peripheral economies of the Eurozone. Having said that, this morning’s rumour mill suggests the agreement is less comprehensive than that and that we may see a euro sell off because traders will be disappointed by the result. We also get the German ZEW survey of business confidence today and that is likely to highlight the two-speed nature of the Eurozone with

There is plenty going on in Canada this week as well though with the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision today and their monetary policy report tomorrow. No change is forecast on interest rates and many traders will largely ignore today’s event as they wait for the more detailed assessment of the Canadian economy due tomorrow. In the meantime, oil prices are very volatile and the US Dollar likewise so the Canadian Dollar is being buffeted a tad.

And finally two stories seemed to arrive with a certain degree of synergy; Mrs Trabelsi, the wife of the former Tunisian President is reported to have made a withdrawal of £38 million in gold bars from Tunisia’s central bank before fleeing the country. No one seems at all surprised by the event after years of avarice and showy wealth at the country’s expense but it is a salutary tale. Thankfully though, just as this story broke, we also heard that a former Swiss bank employee has passed CDs to wikileaks detailing all manner of tax evasion by customers of the Swiss bank. Perhaps Mrs Trabelsi’s stolen gold will be found after all.


Quotes

“It's the one thing I actively don't like: just being recognized.”
Ricky Gervais

“She said, 'I'm your biggest fan,' and I said, 'Who are you?' She said, 'Paris Hilton.'”
Ricky Gervais