Exchange rate news for March 2015

Last week we saw plenty of movement on the markets, with the Dollar being the main antagonist. Not much of the data that was out caused a lot of movement, instead it was mainly about the various central bankers and what they had to say. Mark Carney was again upbeat, Mario Draghi was again downbeat and Janet Yellen was surprisingly forthright, and as a result the Dollar took advantage and pummelled its rivals.

For those of you with a Dollar requirement coming up this is not such good news. Rates for buying Dollars had been on the rise, but this trend has been firmly halted and in fact reversed by around 2 cents.

For those with a Euro requirement though, things are looking very good indeed – the Euro rate has hit new 7 year highs as the single currency takes a battering from the strong Dollar and negative outlook from the ECB.

The week ahead is a critical one as there is plenty of important data, but in reality the markets are really just waiting for the ECB policy statement on Thursday when we should get the final details of their new QE program and a true insight into how far the ECB are going to go.

Monday

• European CPI Inflation
• US Manufacturing PMI

Tuesday

 

• Australian Interest Rate Decision
• German Retail Sales
• UK House Prices

 

Wednesday

• Australian GDP
• European Retail Sales

Thursday

• BoE Monthly Policy Statement
• ECB Monthly Policy Statement

Friday

• European GDP
• US Nonfarm Payrolls

 

To make sure you are kept right up to date with exactly what is happening and how it could impact your upcoming currency purchase, make sure you stay in close contact with your CI account manager.