Neil MacKinnon Quotations

There is a whiff of stagflation here that will be disconcerting for financial investors.

Whatever differences they've had, there does seem to be the same concern about inflation.

I think that looking forward we'll start to see strong economic growth, ... I'm fairly optimistic that the economy will start to pull through in the next 12 to 18 months.

It is encouraging that the recovery is starting to build and today's data supports the prospect of a rate hike soon.

We've had a dollar sell-off in the latter half last week and a little bit of profit taking in late London trading.

Even allowing for the GDP upward revision, the data today has generally been regarded as disappointing and take the steam out of the dollar.

Anything that would suggest a deteriorating appetite for US financial assets would undermine the dollar.

As far as interest rates are concerned, zero growth puts a 50 basis points cut back on the agenda at this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

This is a disappointing release ahead of the Fed meeting, but I don't think it will derail a rate hike next week.

It's not clear how China will deliver further currency flexibility but certainly the pace of appreciation of the Chinese currency has picked up.

The initial reaction was to sell the dollar, presumably in the notion that the core rates don't warrant aggressive action from the Fed.

All this has helped underpin a dollar bullish view and almost makes a rate hike on Nov 1 a certainty.

The dollar is going to prove resilient, and we could see further gains. Higher rates have supported the dollar all year, and with more work to do by the Fed, I can't see that changing.

The dollar has started the week on a firm note and the ISM numbers this afternoon are expected to confirm improving confidence.

The current account numbers were pretty awful and put pressure on the sterling.

The market is having a re-think about the Fed's intention on interest rates.