Concerns
over the growth prospects of the UK economy caused sterling to flounder against
many of its peers last week, with the most notable move against the euro, where
we saw prices reach a nine month low.

Industrial
and Manufacturing figures released last week added to the string of bad data
that has been released from the UK over the last month, fuelling further
negative sentiment on the pound.

Concerns
over the growth prospects of the UK economy caused sterling to flounder against
many of its peers last week, with the most notable move against the euro, where
we saw prices reach a nine month low.

Industrial
and Manufacturing figures released last week added to the string of bad data
that has been released from the UK over the last month, fuelling further
negative sentiment on the pound.

Mario
Draghi’s hawkish comments last Thursday has been crediting for declining yields
on respective governments bonds in the euro zone as well as easing market
turmoil. The next focus for European leaders will be the issue of reducing unemployment
in Europe, which is currently at a record of 11.8%.

The US
dollar saw some weakness during Asian trade following comments by Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans, that the central bank should
keep policy accommodative to support the economy and he expects interest rates
to stay low until 2015.

US dollar
buyers are presented with an excellent opportunity to take advantage of current
rates, considering the negative sentiment on the pound, as the safe haven US
dollar continues to be sold off in the wake of increased risk appetite amongst
investors.

Key
Announcements Today:

10.00am – EUR – Industrial
Production: Expected to improve to -3.2% (YoY).

21.00pm – US – Fed’s Bernanke Speech.