Quiet day for data sees little movement in markets

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day for data – Euro data in the morning was largely a mixed bag with positive releases for both Euro and German unemployment, but a poor result for Eurozone Production. This added with no data from the UK and also mixed results from the US gave little in the way of major movements to report. Across the major pairings there were up and downs throughout the day but GBP>EUR , GBP>USD, and EUR>USD all closed almost exactly where they opened as traders had little to go on. Interestingly however GBP did continue to make slow gains against many of the weaker currencies i.e. ZAR, CAD and AUD to name but a few following positive PMI and mortgage data releases on Monday.

Today is a little more busy with the Euro dominating the mornings trading releasing an ECB non-monetary policy meeting in the morning, followed closely by a raft of CPI and Markit services data. In the afternoon focus will shift to the US who release Markit services data of their own, ADP employment and crude stocks change Ecostats. There is no data released from the UK so expect any movements in GBP rates to be driven by data elsewhere. Certainly in the last few days we have seem GBP start to slowly claw back some of the recent lost ground against both the greenback and single currency. The question on everyone’s lips though is of course will it continue to improve or last?

There are a number of major factors at present affecting the rate and these will need to play out over the coming weeks and months. Today’s ECB meeting could provide hits to the previously mentioned rate cut, but of course if it has a positive spin this will only see GBP lose ground. Tomorrow we have Bank of England Governor Mark Carney speak, who may likely address the issue of the UK interest rate hike which has now seemingly been pushed to 2017. Equally with talk of the UK referendum being called in June, investors may start to feel the jitters of uncertainty sooner rather than later with further drops expected in GBP rates.

So with much going in the market on both a larger and smaller scale, should you have any upcoming transfers to make stay in close contact with your Currency Index account manager who can keep you up to date on what is a happening and can try to help you avoid any sudden drops in rate or increases to your transfer.