US jobless total falls, as ECB indicates it may provide Euro financing

Today’s US jobs data showed a fall in the unemployment rate to 8.6%, while the European Central Bank may provide €200bn of funding through the IMF to help solve the Eurozone debt crisis.

Both currencies have strengthened against the Pound today. Whether this is the beginning of the end of the Eurozone crisis remains to be seen, with plenty of work still going on behind the scenes and Angela Merkel fighting for the future of the Euro, and talking about “fiscal union” – a centralisation of tax and spend in the Eurozone, widely seen as one of the fundamental flaws in the single currency to date.

If the US economy is improving, and the Euro crisis does look like abating, we would be likely to see the Euro and US Dollar both strengthen against sterling, giving worse rates for sending international payments. Many Euro buyers in particular have this week been fixing their exchange rates in advance, to take advantage of the weaker Euro.