Pound continues to fade amidst strong Eurozone data

Yesterday was a particularly busy day for Ecostats as we saw a raft of data released from the UK, USA, Eurozone, for the 3 major currencies GBP, USD and EUR. And despite news that bank of England Governor Mark Carney would be extending his term to 2019 it was once again the pound that suffered. In the morning despite the UK posting positive data releases for lending and mortgage approvals, whilst Germany posted poorer than expected retail figures the Pound lost Ground against the Euro – the opposite of what would be expected to happen and an indicator of market sentiment being against GBP currently.

This was only catalysed at 10.00am when Eurozone GDP and inflation data all came in as expected demonstrating at least in the interim the single currency is performing well. As a result GBP>EUR rates continued to drop through the day, and by the close of business had dropped by a cent. At Midday the focus on data was on the U.S who released a range of income and expenditure data, which was a relatively mixed bag resulting in a volatile day for GBP/USD which however closed close to where it had opened. EUR>USD rates pushed up by a cent throughout the day’s trading following the strong morning for the single currency and the mixture of results for the greenback.

Today is another busy day – in the morning we have UK house pricing data and PMI, alongside Eurozone and German PMI closely followed by the ECB non-monetary policy meeting. With the UK market suffering from Brexit a poor result here would not be a huge surprise, and equally following yesterday’s ECB results we could likely see a bullish ECB in short-term. Don’t be surprised if we see further losses tomorrow, so give Currency Index a call sooner rather than later for any impending Euro purchases.

Tomorrows main focus however comes in the early evening with the FEDS monetary policy statement. All eyes will be fixed here as the market watches for any hints or clues to if or when they will raise interest rates again. And with the U.S election fast approaching movements in the USD rates will only increase which in turn increases the likely change to the your cost of transfer or property purchase. So get in touch today if you have any upcoming requirements for Dollars in the coming months. Whether it is “Hilton” or “The Donald” that wins, and with GBP still on such uncertain ground we are likely to see a prolonged period of volatility. Speak to your Currency Index broker today who can provide you with guidance on how to protect your purchase and cost, including our very popular forward contracts which are very popular at present.