Rates stable as currency markets take stock

13 December, 2011

CurrencyIndex

Currency markets have calmed down a little today, after UK inflation came in exactly as expected and there was little new Eurozone news. Inflation in the UK fell to 4.8%, in line with analysts’ expectations and the Bank of England’s prediction that inflation will fall significantly early in 2012. If that does happen there will be scope for more quantitative easing which will probably hurt the Pound but for now the focus on the Eurozone has kept sterling steady. Elsewhere, US retail sales came in lower than expected, although along with most exchange rates today we have not seen much movement for the US dollar. Tomorrow we have key UK unemployment numbers at 9.30am but until then at least we are seeing some extremely attractive rates for sending overseas payments.