A market update from our friends at London & Capital:

In the US last week, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) took centre stage, maintaining a dovish stance with the decision to hold rates at close to zero. Acknowledging continued softness in the global economy, the FOMC will await further macro data before deciding on potential lift-off date, which may yet be by year-end.

On the data front in the US, it was a relatively poor week with retail sales and manufacturing production painting a slower GDP profile for Q3 compared to Q2.

In the UK, year on year (YoY) consumer price inflation fell back to zero but the rise in average weekly wages to 2.9% YoY means that consumers are enjoying a reasonable amount of real earnings growth. There was also good news in the labour market with unemployment falling to 5.5% while retail sales growth remained steady at 3.7% YoY.

The Eurozone’s seasonally adjusted trade balance for July grew ahead of expectations to €22.4bln (vs €21.4bln expected), mainly driven by German exports but questions remain as to how long this can continue with weaker growth in Emerging Markets and a higher Euro.