New Year, new low! This morning the Euro vs US Dollar
rate fell to its lowest level since June 2010.  The US Dollar is also at
its strongest since July 2013 against the Pound.
Given current conditions
we expect the Euro and the pound to come under continued pressure from the US
dollar over the Medium Term. With these levels of volatility it may be worth
considering a forward or a stop loss to protect budgeted rates of exchange.

New Year, new low! This morning the Euro vs US Dollar
rate fell to its lowest level since June 2010.  The US Dollar is also at
its strongest since July 2013 against the Pound.
Given current conditions
we expect the Euro and the pound to come under continued pressure from the US
dollar over the Medium Term. With these levels of volatility it may be worth
considering a forward or a stop loss to protect budgeted rates of exchange.

GBP
The Pound lost ground on Friday and fell from annual highs against the Euro
after UK manufacturing unexpectedly slowed to a three-month low in December as
weak growth in overseas markets such as the euro area undermined
demand. The report showed overseas orders stagnated in December,
highlighting the economy’s dependency on domestic demand to sustain
growth. 
The Bank of England also said that consumer credit rose 1.3 billion pounds ($2
billion) in November, the most since February 2008. It also said mortgage
approvals declined in November, though by less than economists forecast.

EUR
The value of the euro fell to its lowest level since the middle of 2010,
following comments from Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central
Bank (ECB). In a newspaper interview, he hinted again that the bank might soon
start a policy of quantitative easing to try to stimulate the Euro zone
economy. The aim would be to stop the continued fall in the general level of
prices. The euro fell 0.4% to $1.2034 after Mr Draghi’s comments were made
public.

USD
The Dollar took full advantage of the UK’s figures on Friday, strengthening
over two cents against the Pound despite disappointing manufacturing figures
from the US. A slowdown in orders growth indicates companies are beginning to scale
back capital spending plans as overseas markets slow and lower oil prices hit
American oil producers. At the same time, U.S. factory floors will probably
stay busy early this year as employment gains and cheap gasoline boost consumer
spending, settling into a more sustainable pace of growth as the year drew to a
close.

Key Announcements:
09:30 – GBP: UK PMI construction (Dec)
expected to fall from 59.4 to 59.0
13:00 – EUR: German
Consumer price Index (YoY) (Dec) expected to fall from 0.6% to 0.3%

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