Most weekdays offer the release of a flurry of economic data that can influence price action in the financial markets. Due to the surplus of information available, it can be difficult to parse and locate which indicators are most helpful in terms of fundamental and sentiment analysis. Here, we consider key economic news on June 14th, which I will be keeping in mind for identifying fundamental catalysts, preparing for future volatility, and devising trade setups.

GBP: Another Day of Bad News

The United Kingdom received disappointing new unemployment and employee earnings data from the Office for National Statistics this morning at 2 am Eastern Time. The UK’s Average Earnings Index failed to meet forecasts, while the unemployment rate ticked up by an unexpected 0.1% as more workers filed for unemployment benefits than anticipated. This comes on the heels of yesterday's pessimistic news for the UK, including a shocking month-over-month GDP contraction and a worse trade deficit than what was forecast.

Things are not looking up for GBP; the UK’s economy is clearly not performing well, yet the Bank of England (BoE) is forced to attempt to reckon with high inflation numbers while not causing a recession. This is holistically bearish for GBP, with a mild 25 bps rate hike and Monetary Policy Summary from the BoE expected on Thursday at 7 am Eastern Time. Traders could look to continue shorting GBP beforehand, wait for Thursday's fundamental catalyst(s), or perhaps attempt to buy GBP/JPY as the pair may be erroneously oversold on GBP disappointment.

Other News

Month-over-month German CPI data came in at precisely what was forecast, 0.9%; however, economic sentiment in Europe came in bleaker than expected today according to the ZEW survey(s). US Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers, another metric for inflation, also met forecasts at 0.8% month-over-month, though Core PPI (which excludes food and energy prices) failed to meet expectations by 0.1%. However, this is secondary for USD as tomorrow’s FOMC news remains the focus. China’s year-over-year retail sales and industrial production numbers are also scheduled to be released tonight at 10 pm Eastern Time, along with their unemployment rate.

Key Takeaways

• Fundamental analysis is making GBP buys look less and less enticing, at least in many cases, though the Bank of England could potentially change or exacerbate this on Thursday morning.
• German inflation data met analyst expectations, though European economic sentiment came in worse than what was forecast.
• Today's US inflation data met analyst expectations for the most part as all eyes remain on the Federal Reserve tomorrow afternoon.
• China is reporting their latest retail sales data, industrial production data, and unemployment rate tonight.