The Pound was up a little in yesterday’s trading against both the Euro and US Dollar, amongst others, as the market came back from last week’s fall prompted by poor UK retail sales figures on Friday morning.

There was no significant data released yesterday, with a bank holiday in the USA, although the UK government’s Brexit Bill did make its appearance at first reading in the House of Lords, the debate continuing today.

Eurozone consumer confidence was worse than expected, in an otherwise quiet day for economic news.

There is no hurricane on the way

With US markets open for business again we could see some movement for the US Dollar (and pegged currencies such as the UAE Dirham) with US services & manufacturing sector growth figures released this afternoon. In the UK, public borrowing numbers are released at 9.30am; the Eurozone posts its services & manufacturing figures at 9 am. Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, also gives a speech at 10 am, but in reality none of these are likely to give exchange rates significant momentum in one direction or the other.

Wednesday’s GDP figures will likely be much more significant for the Pound; currently, although the government is widely expected to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to formally begin the process of leaving the EU in the coming weeks. Remember that Michael Fish once warned that “there is no hurricane on the way” before devastating weather conditions hit the UK. That was almost exactly 30 years ago, but are the British economy and the strength of the Pound about to experience their own Michael Fish moment?

We don’t know of course, but the risk is apparent, and if you’d rather be in control of your own finances rather than leave them to the chances of the markets, discuss your upcoming requirements with us at Currency Index and make sure you are prepared to weather the storm.