Dove / Hawk Scale: Where Central Banks are Likely to Move and Implications for Currencies

The UK economy could be on course for its best quarter since before the Brexit referendum of 2016 after explosive gains in GDP seen during January were extended in the February month, Office for National Statistics data showed on Wednesday. 

Analysts at Berenberg Bank have this morning taken another look at potential Brexit outcomes following news that Prime Minister Theresa May has reached out to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to try and establish a Brexit deal that can secure the support of the House of Commons.

German industrial production data reveals a sharp climb in construction activity but manufacturing remains an area of concern.

The UK construction industry is likely to have stagnated during the first quarter, Pantheon Macroeconomics says, after the latest IHS Markit PMI showed activity among commercial bulilders and civil engineering firms stalling in March. 

The UK economy is likely to have stalled in the first quarter if Wednesday's IHS Markit services PMI is anything to go by, according to Capital Economics, as the sharp slowdown observed in the UK's largest economic sector means GDP growth will also have suffered.

The UK manufacturing sector rebounded from its winter lull in March after activity surged ahead of the UK's pending departure from the EU, leading economists to suggest the sector could make a larger contribution to first-quarter GDP growth than previously thought.