Super Thursday for Sterling – 5th November 2015
54.9 was Sterling's lucky number yesterday, for that was the purchasing managers' index reported for the UK services sector and it helped Sterling to a creditable third place among the major currencies. The Swiss Franc was just 10 ticks ahead while yesterday's leader - the...
Sterling second best in October – 2nd November 2015
A couple of months ago Sterling was the odd-one out in the currency world, being sold off consistently. Between mid-August and mid-October it fell by an average of 3.3%, gaining ground only against the South African Rand. One currency to benefit was the Euro which strengthened by...
#GBP ends the week pretty steady – 19th October 2015
Sterling ended last week pretty steady overall against the other dozen most actively-traded currencies. It was unchanged against the Euro, the Japanese Yen and the Australian Dollar from the previous day. Over the week Sterling closed up on Friday higher against all but the Kiwi...
US data dampens view that US interest rates will rise in November – 15th October 2015
US retail sales yesterday were pretty disappointing for September. There were up by 2.4% compared with September 2014 but the monthly rise of only 0.1% from August was miserable. At the same time as retail sales, the US producer price index, which tracks factory gate...
UK Inflation saw #GBP slump yesterday; today UK unemployment holds the key for #GBP – 14th October
Investors weren't impressed by yesterday's UK inflation that were released at 09:30. The figures showed headline inflation turning negative, with prices down by -0.1% in the year to September. Falling petrol prices were mainly responsible: the "core" consumer price index, which ignores fuel and food...
Central Bankers ignored as #GBP gains because of Beer – 13th October 2015
Yesterday Charles Evans, the Chicago Fed President, stuck to his call for no move in US interest rates this year with only slow and incremental increases in 2016. Dennis Lockhart, the Head of the Atlanta Fed, put forward the opposite view. He insisted that "October...
Risk appetite returns as #GBP climbs – 8th October 2015
The US Dollar is currently feeling the weight of the fading hope of raising interest rates to be the weakest performer over the last seven days, falling by a cent and three quarters against Sterling. Despite this fall, it wasn't the worst performing currency yesterday...
#USD falls after poor US jobs data – 5th October 2015
Statisticians note that the US Dollar typically falls after a disappointing US employment report (can we attribute the 0.15% drop in UK shares after England's rugby defeat?). It did so again on Friday after US non-farm payrolls were reported to have risen by 142,000 in...