In the US, CB Consumer Confidence increased more than predicted to 64.5 in December from 55.2 in November indicating an elevated confidence among households. A further improvement to 68.2 is expected now.

The dollar weakened against most major currencies following Bernanke’s announcement that  interest rates will likely remain near zero until late 2014. This was despite solid economic data coming out of the US.

In the US, Factory Orders, production leading indicator to value the new manufacturers’ orders over the past month, rise is expected from -0.4% up to 1.9%

The UK economy grew by 0.6% in Q3, which was surprisingly good news. Other indicators point to a more troubling picture for 2012, such as the current deficit, which has ballooned to 15.2 billion pounds.   Recently, the British pound managed to distance itself from the debt crisis affecting Europe. The movements in GBP/USD were still correlated with those made by EUR/USD, but the euro lost much more ground against the dollar. This has resulted in a big drop in EUR/GBP that reached levels seen only at the beginning of the year.

In the US, The Conference Board (CB) Consumer Confidence, monthly survey to rate the present and upcoming financial conditions with labor availability etc., rise is expected from 39.8 on October up to 43.8 this time.

British bonds did enjoy the failed German bond auction, but this wasn’t enough to lift the pound. And while Q3 GDP was reaffirmed at 0.5%, Q4 looks very worrying. We will get fresh data about November now.

In the US, Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI); monthly managers in Chicago survey to value the business conditions for employment, new orders etc. is due to reduce down to 59.2 points from 60.4 points.

The pound also enjoyed a relatively small current account deficit. This provided a boost for the pound.

In the US, Unemployment Claims, weekly measurement of the persons that filed for unemployment cover, reduces from 423K on the last week to 420K this time.

Britain is getting closer to another round of QE, perhaps as early as next month. This is what was seen in the meeting minutes, and it hurt the pound. On the same day, Ben Bernanke didn’t provide any hints whatsoever for QE3 and settled for Operation Twist. This was a huge blow for the pound.