Money Minute Monday 10 February: lacklustre growth in the UK and Europe

Good morning and welcome to Monday’s Money Minute, where we look ahead to this week’s biggest financial stories.

On Tuesday, we get initial estimates for GDP growth for both the UK and the eurozone during the final three months of last year. The figures are expected to reveal that growth was lacklustre towards the end of 2019. The hope is that activity has picked up since then, although the impact of the coronavirus is yet to be felt.

Over in the US on Thursday, we get the latest inflation data. Prices are expected to have risen at an annual rate of 2.3% in January. That’s around about the inflation level targeted by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve.

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However, the Fed has made it clear that it has no plans to raise interest rates and that it will tolerate, or even welcome, a period of above-target inflation.

So whatever the reported figure turns out to be, it’s unlikely to change interest rate expectations – unless of course, it’s much weaker than expected.