The British economy is expected to stagnate in the first half of the year according to the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), with at least one quarter of negative growth expected. A technical recession, two consecutive quarters of negative growth is still a distinct possibility and the BCC warn the UK economy is still in a precarious position. The government needs to make important decisions and actually act on them to maintain confidence and investment levels, which as promised in the Chancellors autumn statement included improving the flow of credit to businesses and infrastructure projects. Although we are about to see another high speed rail line announced today, the BCC warning is timely, and will hopefully persuade the government that expansionary austerity is not delivering the results that the OBR and Chancellor were hoping for.

The Bank of England has long been suggesting monetary policy cannot be the only tool to lift the economy back towards levels of activity seen before the financial crisis, and will be firmly behind the BCC’s suggestions. In the MPC meeting on Wednesday and Thursday the main discussion will be whether to expand the QE program. Further stimulus is probably on the cards, the only question will be when the Bank acts. For the Pound this means it will come under further pressure against its major trading partners especially the Dollar, which is being boosted from a decent data flow in recent weeks.

With the ECB unlikely to drop interest rates again, the main focus on a busy Thursday will be the exact phrases new ECB chief Mario Draghi uses in his press conference. The strange relationship between the markets and the head of a central bank means every word uttered is scrutinised in microscopic detail to try to second guess the central banks next move.  Special attention will be given to Mr Draghi when he talks about the ECB plans for bond buying in the secondary market and/or any plans for large scale money creation which it is under pressure to commence but has not yet done so because of intense German opposition.