Month End Round Up

As September and the third quarter drew to a close the pound was looking for some respite having taken severe losses across its major pairings in the past month.

Having seen a drop of 7 cents against the euro and 5 cents against the US dollar, it was a welcome relief for the pound as we saw some small gains back, recovering some of these losses seen just in the past few days. The markets had a few key data releases to go off on the last day as we started with German retail sales which came in well under their expected predictions, with the monthly figure posting negative and the yearly figure over half a percent under achieving. The pound was buoyed following Nationwide house price index which grew more than forecast which was a welcome bit of positivity to start the day.

German unemployment rate grew more than expected leaving traders to shy away from the euro but despite UK GDP coming under forecast for the year, the monthly figure stayed unchanged as forecast and the current account deficit was a lot better than expected by some £6 billion so investors were not put off and continued to ply their funds into sterling, making profits off the sell orders the previous days. EU inflation compounded the euro sellers attitude coming in negative whilst posting an increased unemployment rate too. Over the day, the pound made over a cent gain at its peak, whilst the US dollar took a cent.

Elsewhere Canadian GDP improved giving the Loonie the legs to gain, meaning those sending money to Canada would have got over a cent less by the close of play compared to before lunchtime.

The months kicks off with the usual round of PMI releases from around the world, starting with Markit manufacturing today for the EU and UK and ISM manufacturing PMI from across the pond. Friday concludes the week with construction PMI, Australian retail sales, EU inflation figures and then finishes off after lunch with the key employment stats from the US, including unemployment rate, average earnings and non-farm payrolls.

As October starts and Halloween looms, make sure you dont let the currency markets spook you too, give one of the CI team a call today and discuss your upcoming currency requirement.