Sterling starts the week testing gains

Overall last week was another very positive week for Sterling with it continuing to make gains across the board. Following Mario Draghis comments on Thursday and the announcement ECB interest rates would be held, we saw some volatility later in the week particularly in the GBP/EUR cross. However his initial dumbing down and subsequent weakening of the Euro was corrected finished the week almost where we started against the pound.

Whilst the GBP/EUR battle is ongoing, elsewhere the pound is demonstrating its current strength with particularly good buying levels across a range of currencies – USD, CAD, SEK and ZAR to name but a few. In general the pound is strong across the board at present so any of you with upcoming currency requirements may like to take advantage of these excellent rates now.

This week is a quiet and slightly strange one for data releases, in so far as we only have two days where any data of note is released and we will see the three majors go head to head with Consumer Price Index data. Certainly the pound in recent months has been on a roll and Tuesdays CPI could see further gains if positive data is released, particularly given that neither the USD or EUR has little in the way to fight back until Thursdays release of the equivalent data.

As always though the gains (if any) we may see could well be eroded when the US and Eurozone release their CPI data Thursday. Potentially however we could see a small window midweek where the pound, with some positive data could claw more ground against the slowly recovering Euro and the flagging and currently debt ridden USD. So interestingly, whilst it is a quiet week for data we may well see some movement outside of the recent range, particularly between Tuesday and Thursday.

Tuesday
GBP Consumer Price Index (MoM and YoY)
USD Retail Sales (MoM)

Thursday
AUD Unemployment rate and unemployment rate
EUR Harmonized Index of consumer prices (MoM and YoY)
EUR ECB monthly report
EUR Consumer Price Index
USD Consumer Price Index Data

If any of you have upcoming currency requirements speak to your Currency Index broker sooner rather than later for some friendly professional guidance, and to avoid any sudden movements or disappointment. Currency Index can help you stay well informed and well ahead of the markets.