GBP The pound gained against the euro for the second day running yesterday, almost hitting levels not seen since early April. All fingers point to falling Covid numbers as the driving factor. In other good news for sterling, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its global forecast yesterday and awarded its biggest upgrade to Britain, […]
USD June’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes are released later today. Investors will be waiting eagerly for any clues on whether the Federal Reserve might cut its bond buying programme. The bank’s members discussed tapering in their 15th and 16th June policy meeting and since then most policy makers have been broadly bullish on the US recovery. The main reasons […]
GBP The pound reached its highest level against the euro since early April yesterday, following strong UK inflation data earlier in the week. This coincided with a EUR/USD sell off fueled by a hawkish comments at the US Federal Reserve’s rate conference. The Fed suggested there could be two rates hikes as early as 2023. The first rise wasn’t expected until 2024. This […]
GBP The pound rose against the dollar this morning after inflation data beat expectations. UK inflation jumped to 2.1% in May, far better than the expected 1.8% and a healthy growth from April’s 1.5%. GBP/USD had been at a one month low yesterday. However, there’s a feeling among economists this spike is temporary, similar to […]
GBP Sterling was on the front foot on Wednesday as optimism grows that all Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted on June 21. The pound had dropped earlier this week amid concerns the date could be pushed back. Despite rising infection rates, the government believes the vaccines are keeping people out of hospitals and controlling the spread of the virus. […]
GBP The pound had rough start to the month yesterday as fears around a delay to the full relaxation of covid restrictions in England grew. Scotland has already announced a pause to their plans. Headlines have been dominated by an increase in ‘Indian variant’ cases and warnings from senior medical advisors around easing restrictions on June 21. This is all […]
USD The dollar is now this quarter’s worst performing major currency. This is in stark contrast to the euro, the strongest performer, which is up around 4% against the dollar. Several factors are weighing on the dollar. Investors still believe the US Federal Reserve’s insistence it will not taper its bond-buying operations anytime soon, even if inflation rises above […]
The pound has been the second best performing currency in the G10 over the past month. This is largely down to the UK’s ongoing exit from lockdown, which is on track to be completed by June 21. The rapid acceleration of the Eurozone’s vaccine programme has boosted the currency against most of its major competitors. It’s now the only G10 currency to outperform the pound over the last month.
USD The dollar dropped back to near multi-month lows yesterday. This followed a brief bounce on Wednesday caused by the release of US Federal Reserve meeting minutes which suggested tapering government bond purchases if the pandemic recovery continued. Now it seems the market has judged the Fed will take its time to taper, needing to see sustained positive data […]
GBP Sterling gave up earlier gains against both the euro and dollar yesterday. This followed the Bank of England (BoE) stating it needed clear evidence of an economic recovery before tightening monetary policy. The move mirrored recent decisions in the United States, with the Federal Reserve taking a similar stance. A sell off in sterling soon ensued, with investors underwhelmed […]
USD The dollar recovered from an eight week low against the euro yesterday and gained against many of its peers. This came after investors consolidated their positions ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting. The market is now looking for clues from the Fed on whether they will taper policy for later in the year. Fed […]
GBP Sterling was the best performing currency on Monday, rallying close to 1% against the euro and just over 1% against the dollar. Investors have struggled to pin the pound’s recent decline on one single factor and a clear reason for sterling’s appreciation yesterday is equally illusive. Instead, it seems a combination of factors are at play. Seasonality is […]
GBP The pound fell to a seven month low against the euro on Tuesday. This followed the Bank of England’s (BoE) Chief Economist Andy Haldane announcing he would be leaving the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Haldane is famously ‘hawkish’ and favourable towards increasing interest rates. Something seen as a positive for the pound. This isn’t the first […]
GBP Sterling extended its losses against both the euro and dollar on Thursday. This is despite a stronger than expected Construction Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). The Construction PMI is a diffusion index incorporating survey results provided by UK construction firms. The Construction PMI rose to 61.7 from 53.3, a six-year high. However, the news mostly failed to move sterling. Likely […]
GBP The UK economy showed further signs of life yesterday as GDP rose by 16.9% and 1.3% in Q3 and Q4 respectively. GDP had fallen by 9.8% in 2020, the biggest drop for over 300 years, so this was welcome news. A high level of accumulated household savings likely funded the growth, at least in part. The saving rate increased from […]
GBP Sterling surged to a 13 month high against the euro yesterday morning while holding strong against the dollar. The upwards swing didn’t last long, however, and the pound had dipped again by the afternoon. Although there’s no real data to explain these swings, the volatility could be down to a new financial quarter beginning […]
USD The dollar remained strong against its peers yesterday as data showed US factory activity picked up in early March amid an increase in new orders. However, US manufacturing PMI only increased to 59 in the first half of this month from a final reading of 58.6 in February, when activity took a step back […]
GBP The pound remains under pressure as the British Government works to ease tensions with the EU over their threat to ban AstraZeneca vaccine exports. This is on top of poor employment data for February which showed a further 86,000 Brits had entered unemployment. Today also saw the release of February’s UK Consumer Price Inflation data, which slumped […]
GBP Sterling fell against both the euro and dollar on Monday as investors sold the British currency following news the European Union could block AstraZeneca vaccine exports to the UK. This follows supply issues in Europe and concerns among EU officials that it won’t reach its vaccination target. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen […]
GBP The pound fell yesterday after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey raised doubts on the UK’s economic recovery ahead of this week’s Bank of England Policy announcement. Bailey stressed the importance of continuing with the bond purchasing and stimulus programme, despite his concerns about post-pandemic inflation. Ahead of this key meeting, analysts have taken […]
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