Aussie and Kiwi Dollars top the leaderboard – 1st December 2015
The antipodean Aussie and Kiwi Dollars put in the best performance amongst the most commonly traded currencies yesterday with the Kiwi up by 0.8% against Sterling and the Aussie by half that amount. When we talk about a currency going up, in this case the...
Important data this week is sure to move the currencies – 30th November 2015
Despite the media's best efforts to whip up a spending frenzy on Black Friday, shoppers stayed away from the high street and security guards didn't have to break up fights over flat-screen TVs. Aside from action surrounding the Swiss Franc, the currency markets didn't show...
Euro remain steady despite hints of more QE – 23rd November 2015
Despite the US Dollar's meagre 1.5% rise, it still managed to be the leading major currency over the last week and it did reasonably well on Friday too, strengthening by more than a cent against Sterling. It wasn't enough for first place though, as the South...
Sterling survives largest borrowing deficit since 2009 – 20th November 2015
UK retail sales for the month of October reported a decline of -0.6% for the month of October yesterday. Expectations were for a decrease, however, the result actually came in worse than expected. Retail sales had previously surged in the month of September due to...
US interest rates to rise in December 2015 – 19th November 2015
Yesterday's minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in October, published yesterday evening, confirmed that committee members were on the whole in favour of beginning the process of tightening monetary policy but not quite yet. The implication was that they were hoping the...
Sterling benefits from unemployment at a 7-year low – 12th November 2015
On the so-called singles day in China (so called because of the date 11/11) singles spent a collective £9.4bn just at Alibaba. One of them, paid £32m for an engagement ring at a Geneva auction! Otherwise it was a fairly dull day for economic data but...
Sterling in the cross hairs this morning – 11th November 2015
This morning's Chinese retail sales were reported up by 11% in October and while many a Western country would be delighted with such a number, the pace of growth in Chinese retail sales is not what it was five years ago. Back then year on...
Sterling slumps on Super Thursday – 6th November 2015
Remember, remember the 5th November but not for Guy Fawkes but for the day informally known as "Super Thursday". It was dubbed super Thursday because of the simultaneous release of the Bank of England's policy decision, Monetary Policy Committee meeting minutes and Quarterly Inflation Report. Ahead...