Pound Improvement thanks to positive data

This week has been a relatively busy week regarding economic data with UK inflation posting positive results rising from 2.1% to 2.3% on Tuesday and provided some small gains for the Pound which seems to have held up as the week continued. Yesterday morning UK Retail Sales came in much better than expected, posting 3.7% YoY for the month of February, 1.1% better than predicted. Again the pound strengthened by almost half a cent and managed to remain at these levels throughout the trading day. In the afternoon, the US posted negative results for Initial Jobless claims up to 258K from the previous 243K but did post encouraging results for New Homes sale data, and Euro Consumer Confidence also posting positive results.

Already this morning we have had a selection of Markit data in from both France and Germany, and at 09:00 this morning Euro Markit PMI, Services and Manufacturing came in all posting positive figures. The afternoon’s focus turns to the US and Canada, with US Durable goods and Canada Inflation both due at 12:30 pm, then US Markit data at 14:45 pm.

With the official trigger of Article 50 being held on Wednesday, the window to secure your requirement ahead of the official trigger is closing in. If you are concerned about what effect this could have on the exchange rates, and indeed on your future requirements then get in touch with a member of the CI team today. Discuss the various options we can provide to get the most out of the current market and help you maximise your potential savings.