What’s been happening? Yesterday’s UK construction PMI failed to impress, showing a decline from May and coming in worse-than-forecast. The index slid from 56 to 54.8 – a reading of 55 had been projected. Markit economist Tim Moore said of the report; ‘The construction sector experienced a growth slowdown in June, largely reflecting weaker rises in commercial building and civil engineering activity. Residential construction work continued to increase at one of the fastest rates since the end of 2015.’ Meanwhile, the Eurozone’s producer price index came in at -0.4% on the month and 3.3% on the year, below respective projections of -0.2% and 3.5%. While this report had little impact, demand for the euro was limited by comments from European Central Bank (ECB) Chief Economist Peter Praet. Praet quashed hopes of quantitative easing being unwound in the near future when he said; ‘Our mission is not yet accomplished. We need patience and persistence. We need to be patient, because inflation convergence needs more time to show through convincingly in the data.’ Although Canada’s Markit manufacturing PMI dipped from 55.1 to 54.7, the result was not viewed as being likely to have much of an impact on Bank of Canada (BOC) interest rate hike plans, so the Canadian dollar remained buoyant. Finally, the New Zealand dollar stayed steady despite a slight fall in dairy prices at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction. The 0.4% deceleration followed six consecutive auctions of rising prices. | 
