The Penny drops as the pound suffers

Despite the on-going political uncertainty and a souring relationship between Italy and the EU, it appears our own battle to escape the EU is having more of a negative influence on sterling than it is on the euro.

This influence has manifested itself in somewhat of a volatile few days with GBP-EUR rates fluctuating by over a cent-and-a-quarter. The Brexit must be signed off by the end of October, which doesn’t give much time for finalizing the Irish border debate which still rumbles on. GBP-USD has moved roughly 1.5 cents over the course of the week but currently sits at one of the highest points in the last two weeks, so possibly a good time to buy those dollars if required, soon.

It was relatively quiet in terms of eco-stats yesterday with one of the two major announcements being the EURO GDP, which came in as expected and as previously at 0.4% for the month on month and 2.5% year on year. The after effect was GBP-EUR dropping over half a cent but has since rallied back. There was a bit of a mixed bag, from the remaining data in the US, with a mixed outcome in jobless claims but negative consumer credit change.

With very little in the way of data from the UK or Europe we may only see sentiment-led currency movements today. This morning we have already had industrial production and trade figures from Germany, coming in fairly mixed and for those of you wanting to buy or sell CAD, there may be some movement for the loonie as we have unemployment and housing figures from Canada around lunchtime, with some more minor US eco-stats later this afternoon/evening.

With the dollar at two-week highs and every chance sterling could drop further over the course of the day, with little to keep it pushed up, if you require currency, do get in touch before the weekend when the markets close.