Oil Prices Disrupt Greenback

The markets were fairly muted on Monday as a lack of data meant investors had little to go on.

The news non-OPEC countries were also joining the organisation in trimming oil production over the weekend helped a jump in oil prices and caused the US dollar to suffer some selling pressure over the day. The pound clawed back slowly all through the day ending up a cent better off at close of play than at the European open, making a decent gain for anyone out there with a dollar requirement. The pound generally traded flat across the board as no data releases gave a pretty quiet day on the markets. Initially the pound was down against all but the greenback before trading flat until the US markets opened at lunchtime. Once they opened and the selling of the dollar started, it seemed the beneficiary was sterling which made back all the earlier losses against all its major counterparties adding some additional pips along the way, but nothing to write home about that’s for sure.

At least today should be a little busier as we have some proper ecostats to chew the meat off. UK inflation, follows German inflation this morning with EU employment data thrown into the mix but seen as fairly low key. After lunch and the US opens with import/export figures at 1.30pm but we may still be seeing some effects from the oil news over the weekend and ahead of the Fed meeting tomorrow, so regardless of results the dollar could well remain volatile. Any business with a USD requirement or private client buying in the Orlando sun, make sure to give us a call sooner rather than later to discuss your best options.