Europeans give us their CPI inflation figures

This week so far has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the currency markets with significant swings back and forth for all of the three majors. With the end of the week in sight, the Pound seems to find itself in the driving seat again, having once again climbed back to the high of the year against the Euro and just shy of the same against the Dollar.

We have a very quiet day on the markets today, with only a couple of releases of any importance expected. The Europeans give us their CPI inflation figure this morning and then we have US industrial production figures this afternoon. Unless there is a significant move on either I would not expect too much impact, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on them if you are hoping to take advantage of the current Pound highs.

In other news Janet Yellen, who is a member of the FOMC and Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, was up in front of the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, to face questioning on the FED’s monetary policy and stimulus packages. She gave a very assured performance, which is probably why she is the President’s choice to replace Ben Bernanke when his tenure ends in January of next year. She has to face a vote to see if she gets the FED’s big job come January, but performances like yesterday can only improve her chances.

The impact that Mark Carney has had on the UK central bank; the Bank of England, has been significant, with a radical change of policy to his preferred Forward Guidance model. The markets are much more comfortable with this rather than the uncertainty of the previous system and the Pound has been able to make significant gains since he took over – helped by the economies overall improvement as well. Could a new FED chairperson have a similar impact? It’s hard to say, but if you do have an upcoming Dollar purchase or sale, this is well worth keeping in mind.

As ever stay in close contact with your CI account manager to be kept fully informed on what is happening on the markets, and of course you can follow us on twitter @CurrencyIndex.