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Further belief that the worst of the financial crisis has passed and some therapeutic words from the US Treasury Secretary saw sterling move to yet another year’s high against the USD. GBP also gained against EUR over the course of the trading session.

The fundamental data for the session was largely circumstantial as traders ignored poor Japanese Q1 GDP, the minutes from the Bank of England (which were largely sterling positive) and instead focused on the testimony of Tim Geithner to the Senate Banking Committee.

And God bless that they did. Geithner opened up by saying that the US financial system was ‘starting to heal’ after a period of severe trauma and an upward course for risky assets, GBP included, was set  while further comments that some banks would pay back their TARP funds earlier than expected due to strong balance sheets and successful fund raising activities also swelled investor sentiment. The mood in the World First office was a Henman-esque ‘C’mon Tim!’ hopefully without the crashing disappointment that Britain’s former premier tennis player continually brought to the party.

As we said yesterday risk to sterling, certainly against the euro, exists and is probably higher given the past 24hrs. EU PMI for the services and manufacturing sectors are due at 09.00 and we expect them to be better than previously forecast given the high ZEW figure on Wednesday. Retail sales from the UK at 09.30 could bolster sterling and given it’s Thursday we also have initial jobless claims.

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Please feel free to contact me jeremy.cook@worldfirst.com(jeremy.cook@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 on 020 7801 9050 or ourPrivate Client Currency Exchange on 020 7801 9080. 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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