Friday 24th January 2020

Concerns over the spread of the Corona virus have heightened, with two further Chinese cities now in lockdown. NAB’s Gavin Friend talks to Phil Dobbie about the market reaction, with classic risk-off sentiment evident right now. The Aussie dollar has been saved from a bigger fall by the positive jobs numbers yesterday, which will perhaps push back the timing of a rate cut from the RBA. Could it be a similar story in the UK? Expectations of an imminent cut have diminished; will today’s PMIs support the more optimistic view of the UK economy? There are PMIs for Australia and Europe today, so it’s a big day for numbers. Meanwhile the ECB seems to be on a holding pattern, pending their strategic review.