Public Borrowing rises

The Pound faltered a little further against the Euro yesterday after public sector borrowing figures were released showing a worsening in borrowing to £9.65bn in April. Deficit reduction seems to be the forgotten fantasy of George Osborne, with the Government now fully focussed on the forthcoming election, and with mortgage approvals and house prices both now in decline, there is a sense that the UK economy is looking less healthy than we had been led to believe in recent months.

With Brexit negotiations set to continue after the election, there could be a very tricky period ahead for the UK economy. This would be very likely to hurt the Pound and is worth considering if you are waiting for the election to give the Pound renewed momentum – there is no guarantee we will see that happen.

We will have to wait until tomorrow to see any more UK data, with Q1 GDP, mortgage approvals for April, and business investment, all released at 9.30am.

In the aftermath of Monday’s horrific events in Manchester, there has also quite rightly been a pause in campaigning for the election.

Other news due today

Elsewhere today we have a speech by European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, at 1345 UK time, and the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision (likely to hold at 0.5%) at 1500. The EU’s financial stability review is also released at 1000 and the Federal Reserve minutes from the recent US interest rate decision, this evening at 1900, will be of interest to anyone buying or selling US Dollars.

With the ECB potentially looking to reduce their QE programme in June, the UK economy appears less robust, and political uncertainty ahead, the old adage that more can be lost be indecision, than a poor one, may prove true in these market conditions. Whatever your currency transfer requirements, talk to us at Currency Index to make sure you are aware of all the options open to you in the coming weeks and months.