FTSE 100 in the firing line this week

As with the Pound, the UK stock markets will be in focus later this week, when the Bank of England deliver their latest monetary policy decision on Thursday. The current forecast on that is for the BOE to keep the base rate on hold at 5%. Now, ahead of that we get some very important UK inflation data, due out at 6am GMT on Wednesday. That data is expected to show consumer prices rising markedly last month and that expectation is part and parcel of why the markets expect no change from the BOE the day after that data becomes known. There will be more to add on that CPI (and RPI) data release in due course. The FTSE 100 has been lagging both the CAC and the DAX lately and it could either snap that by the end of this week, or endorse the disparity further by the weekend. The index is most definitely in focus this week and right now it is set to open slightly lower this morning. The FTSE 100 closed on Friday at 8,273, with a gain of 32 points on the day. The index is currently priced to effectively reopen shortly at around 8,255