BOE and ECB Interest rate decision day

13 September, 2018

Grace Rae

Grace RaeThe main topic of interest for market today will be the interest rate decision for both the Bank of England (12:00) and the European Central Bank (12:45). Although markets at are not expecting any change from either bank’s rate wise, with the UK’s rate remaining at 0.75% and the ECB at 0%, there have been reports that the ECB could look at making some downward revisions to their current growth forecasts. Any changes made could cause some exchange rate volatility and investors will also be listening closely to the BOE’s monetary policy summary and statement for any hints towards expectations for no deal Brexit impact on the banks future plans.

In recent news, Theresa May is due to hold a meeting today to discuss the ins and outs of a no deal outcome and will be publishing some guidance on changes to mobile roaming plans, passports and driving licences.

Brexit Secretary Raab has also made a bold statement where he threatened the UK will not be paying the Brexit settlement bill if no deal can be reached so we wait in anticipation to see which way talks will go over the next 6-8 weeks. A few major issues are yet to be resolved including that of the Irish borders, which could still cause further friction to a deal being reached so as talks continue we can expect the rates to react off any news.

Although we have seen the rates improve for the GBP-EUR pairing in particular, there is still plenty of risk ahead. So if you do have an upcoming requirement for Euros, and want to make the most of the current uplift, give us a call today and speak to one of our friendly brokers to discuss the various options we provide to help you secure the amounts you need to help protect your costs against what is expected to be a fairly volatile period ahead.

Our forward option allows you to lock in a rate for future settlement with just a 10% deposit, while our limit and stop loss allow you to set a preferred target rate and worst case rate to protect you if the market drops below your budgeted costings.