Depressing data continues to flow from the US with confidence figures illustrating the present economic situation perfectly. Friday’s University of Michigan figure posted the largest monthly drop on record at near record lows of 57.5. Housing starts also reflected the weakness that is spreading to the broader market with its lowest reading in 17 years.

Despite this doom and gloom, the major currency pairings were largely unchanged throughout the day, with dollar managed to hold ground against Sterling and Euro. In the current climate of risk aversion it was also unsurprising to see Yen strength continue and this may be a current trend over the short term at least.  

We look forward to seeing how the market reacts today to Darling’s capital expenditure plan designed to invigorate the economy by bringing forward planned spending. This should give Sterling some momentum in the Euro cross particularly as recent news from the Netherlands has seen ING accept a €10bn capital injection for the Dutch Government

Major news for the day is out this afternoon when Ben Bernanke testifies to the House Budget Committee on ‘the economic outlook and financial markets’. This should provide some interesting insights but the focus will continue to fall on credit and stock markets. Credit conditions do look to be easing but we are far from out of the woods as yet

Have a great week

Please feel free to contact me (rick.roache@worldfirst.com) if you have any questions or thoughts regarding these updates or if you are interested in a particular event in the calendar. If you would like to discuss your foreign exchange requirements, please contact our:

Corporate Foreign Exchange Team on 020 7801 9050 or our Private Client Currency Exchange Team on 020 7801 9080.

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Disclaimer: The above comments are only our views and should not be construed as advice. You should act using your own information and judgement. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions and estimates constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice.

Any rates given are “interbank” i.e. for amounts of £5million and thus are not indicative of rates offered by World First for smaller amounts. E&OE. Definitions of jargon/market terms can be found in our Glossary of Foreign Exchange Terms.

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