Both the euro and pound rose against the safe-haven funded dollar yesterday as good sentiment moved back into the market.

Although there was a lack of concrete figures in any G20 communications the market has taken the spirit of co-operation as a good sign alongside Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s assertion that a bank bailout plan is very soon coming.

Gains were subdued however as US industrial production fell sharply while Empire State manufacturing tumbled to its lowest level on record as secondary sectors continue to be the hardest hit across the pond and, BRIC excepted, across the world.

Stock markets were nicely higher yesterday with Barclay’s in particular leaping by up to 20%. Barclay’s is fighting valiantly to not take funds from the UK government, it is this analyst’s opinion that should they their share price would collapse and sterling would slump hard, by raising money via selling part of iShares, its asset management arm.

Data today comes from the enticingly entitled ‘Department of Councils and Local Government’ on house prices and hopefully we see another jump after figures from Rightmove showed a 1.7% jump in February. German economic sentiment is also due from ZEW at 10.00.

Today we have a very special guest from our Dublin office doing the morning update! It is available at our video blog http://uk.youtube.com/user/WorldFirstJC

Please feel free to contact me (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 Team on 020 7801 9050 or our Private Client Currency Exchange Team 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.

To view any past or present currency blogs please click on the following link www.worldfirst.com/blog