Busy end to the month UK economy in focus

30 September, 2015

Tom Arnold

The story so far this week has been one of limited data, leaving the market following current trends in the absence of anything major to digest. As a result the Pound has continued to struggle following its recent poor performance, with Euro and Dollar rates touching lows not seen since spring of this year. This is a great relief for anyone looking to sell Euros and Dollars, and buy Pounds, but not so good for those with Sterling in hand looking to send money abroad.

Today however sees a raft of key data come out to close out the month. We have already seen poor German retail sales figures and above expectation UK house price numbers and as a result the Euro has dropped off, and the Pound has made some limited gains. German unemployment numbers are up next, followed by UK GDP, European CPI inflation, and US employment numbers.

GDP is one of the major releases from any economy, and while this is only a revision of the Q2 number rather than a fresh quarter’s figure, it is still critical to the picture of how the UK economy is doing. Last week we saw figures released that show that the UK’s deficit is not improving as the Chancellor has promised, and as such focus is firmly on the details of the UK economy’s position. Expectations are for the Q2 numbers to stay the same, so any change could see a significant move for Sterling – could this be another nail in the coffin of Sterling’s recent slump or is this the light at the end of the tunnel?

Rates are lower than we have seen for some months, but in the case of the Euro, still 15-20 cents above where we spent most of the last nine years, so with further losses definitely possible it may well be worth looking to secure your currency sooner rather than later. Remember it is possible to secure rates many months in advance of your requirement using a forward contract.

As we enter a new month their will inevitably be all of the usual early month data releases, central bank announcements and news pieces to keep the markets busy so make sure you stay in close contact with your CI account manager to be kept informed of exactly what is happening and what the impact could be on your upcoming currency purchase.