A Slow Start to the Week

Monday was a fairly flat day in the currency markets as the week started with hardly any data releases, certainly none of any key importance. Early morning retail sales from Switzerland showed growth of 3.4 percent which although a massive improvement on the expected 0.3 percent growth, did little to benefit the Swissy. On the whole, the markets did very little, with sterling trading within a tight range against most of its major pairings.

Canadian housing starts were a little above forecast, coming in at 200,000 for July and this figure seemed to be positive for investors as we saw the Loonie end up one of the only winners of the day, gaining nearly a whole cent against sterling over the course of the afternoon, making sending money to Canada that little bit more expensive. For example, an average C$250,000 transfer become around £700 more expensive in just a few hours, which just goes to show, timing is everything when it comes to foreign exchange.

So will Tuesday be much better?

Overnight we have already had some minor Australian data on house prices and business confidence. The house price data showed some improvement on forecast figures, but the increase wasn’t sufficient to give much of a boost to the Aussie which only gained just under a half cent but went on to lose half that over the course of Asian trading overnight.

The morning starts with various inflation releases around Europe and the more key ZEW economic sentiment and current situation reports from Germany and the overall EU. Positive figures here could lead to a further rally for the single currency, especially as again we have a drought of anything from the UK. Anyone with a euro purchase to make could be prudent to look at booking your trade first thing as the EU data comes out at 10am. Finally the day rounds up Stateside with a few low key releases, including a business optimism index and monthly budget statement.

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