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A bull market helped power sterling
A bull market helped power sterling
The pound was the surprise winner among currencies in a market still working out the ramifications of the USA’s military intervention in Venezuela.
The usual pattern when conflicts begin is that investors avoid risky assets like stocks and sterling and put their money in the US dollar, gold and suchlike – a move known as ‘risk off’. However, this time around, led by US oil shares, the Dow Jones hit a record intraday high, while rising defence stocks helped the FTSE 100 to a new record too.
Being a service-backed currency, sterling tends to follow stock markets and it powered to its best against the euro and the US dollar since September. It was all downhill for the US dollar, including losing nearly 1% to sterling.
There wasn’t a great deal of other data for the markets to consider yesterday, except for ISM Manufacturing PMI in the US, which like Europe’s last week was a downgrade from last month and below estimates at the negative 47.9.
Today is a busy one for data and we have already had UK Shop Price Inflation coming in overnight at 0.7% for last month. This was an acceleration, but only a small one and led by food and alcohol.
French inflation has just been recorded at just 0.8% in the past year and Germany’s inflation will be out shortly. Then we have more pertinent PMI data for the UK – services.
Elsewhere in the business news, Nvidia announced that their AI tech could now make self-driving cars that think and reason like humans, opening the way for autonomous vehicles “to think through rare scenarios, drive safely in complex environments, and explain their driving decisions,” said Nvidia boss Jensen Huang.
Make sure any upcoming transactions are protected against the risks of sudden market movements. Secure a fixed exchange rate now with a forward contract; call your Business Account manager on 020 3918 7255 to get started.
GBP: Pound at four-month high
GBP/EUR gained around half a cent yesterday and GBP/USD close to a cent in a positive day for sterling. But will that survive the various data releases today including services PMI?
GBP/USD past year
EUR: Inflation data out today
It was all downhill for the single currency yesterday as a mix of geopolitical threats and poor economic data combined to depress the market. Hang on to your chapeaux for inflation and PMI data today and tomorrow.
GBP/EUR past year
USD: Dollar loses
It was a day of three thirds for the dollar yesterday as early gains as soon as the market opened were just as rapidly lost – and more – in the afternoon session, with even greater losses in the evening. Can data reverse that? The key numbers of the week are on the US labour market and that starts tomorrow with Jolts job openings and following with Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.
USD/GBP past year
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