Swiss franc moves lower ahead of Bernanke speech
Fri, Aug 22 2008, 08:37 GMT
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ZURICH, Aug 22 (Reuters) - The Swiss franc moved lower against the dollar and the euro on Friday as markets await a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke later in the day.
"This is essentially a rebound in the major currencies. Additionally, yesterday's data showed that the Swiss economy is struggling," UBS economist Reto Huenerwadel said. Investors will focus on a speech from Bernanke on financial stability at the Kansas City Fed's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
"It will be interesting to see what leeway central bankers have," Huenerwadel said.
UPDATE 1-UK economy grinds to halt in Q2, weakest since 1992
Fri, Aug 22 2008, 09:13 GMT
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LONDON, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Britain's economy unexpectedly came to a standstill in the second quarter, its weakest performance since the recession of the early 1990s, revised official data showed on Friday.
The Office for National Statistics said GDP was unchanged on
the quarter in the three months to June, down from a preliminary estimate of 0.2 percent growth and below analysts' forecasts for a revision to 0.1 percent growth.
That was the weakest since the second quarter of 1992 when the economy was in the throes of its last recession. On the year, GDP was 1.4 percent higher, revised down from an initial reading of 1.6 percent and the weakest since Q4 1992.
Sterling and the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares fell and interest rate futures rose after the data boosted expectations that borrowing costs will need to fall to prevent a deep and protracted slowdown.
"This really does put a rate cut firmly on the agenda although it is unlikely to come until we have seen the peak in inflation," said Brian Hillard, an economist at Societe Generale.
The Bank of England is already factoring in the economy standing still over the next year and has said growth needs to slow to tame inflation, which is running at more than double the central bank's 2 percent target and expected to spike higher.
The figures are likely to fan further criticism of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's handling of the economy. He will no longer be able to boast of the economy growing continuously since the Labour government came to power in 1997. But the government is likely to point out that high oil prices and a credit crunch are hurting economies right across the world. The euro zone economy contracted in Q2. The downward revisions to the preliminary estimate of British GP were across the board. Britain's mighty services sector grew by just 0.2 percent on the quarter, its poorest showing since the fourth quarter of 1995.
Manufacturing output fell by 0.8 percent on the quarter, the weakest since the first quarter of 2005. Construction output, which has been hard hit by the housing market slump, fell by 1.1
percent on the quarter -- the worst since Q3 2005.
Household spending fell 0.1 percent on the quarter, its weakest since the second quarter of 2005.
(Reporting by Sumeet Desai and Matt Falloon; Editing by Victoria Main)