Foreign Exchange - UK Daily Update - Written by jeremy on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 8:11 - 0 Comments
Sterling Stuck Before FOMC, Unemployment - World First’s Currency Exchange Morning Update - 18th March 2009
Sterling stayed in its recent trading ranges yesterday as markets waited for the FOMC meeting later today. Against USD GBP seems to be confined to a range between 1.39 and 1.42 while against the euro it is housed in the 1.07/1.08 area.
US data was unexpectedly bullish yesterday with housing starts jumping 22% in February. Most commentators have put this down to seasonal factors and hence nothing to really hang a recovery coloured hat upon. PPI was also higher with core showing that while food costs have fallen energy prices ticked higher last month.
The ZEW business climate reading was also better than expected with those businesses surveyed predicting an increase in fortunes for German corporations in the coming months. This allowed euro to stay above 1.30 against the volatile USD and pushed GBP/EUR to the bottom of its recent trading range.
The yen is also weak at the moment as we wait from a decision from the BoJ. With interest rates at close to 0% the bank is limited in what it can do but we expect them to initiate a lending policy to struggling banks as soon as possible.
The main chunk of data is the Fed meeting today. While it is obvious that there will be no monetary policy manoeuvres, their rates currently sit in a band between 0% and 0.25%, the minutes will probably include some platitude about giving all they can to help business through this difficult period.
From the UK we have the Bank of England minutes from the most recent meeting and it will be interesting to see if there was not only a split on the rate cut but also about how much money to move into QE. UK unemployment is also due with most commentators expecting the figure to pop above 2m for the first time since 1997.
Gerry O’Kelly was very happy with his video debut and wanted to thank all his fans for their emails of support and thanks. Normal service has been resumed and is available at http://uk.youtube.com/user/WorldFirstJC
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Indicative Rates |
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|
|
Sell |
Buy |
|
GBPEUR |
1.0725 |
1.0747 |
|
GBPUSD |
1.3954 |
1.3980 |
|
EURUSD |
1.2997 |
1.3021 |
|
GBPJPY |
137.51 |
137.70 |
|
GBPAUD |
2.1129 |
2.1181 |
|
GBPNZD |
2.6387 |
2.6454 |
|
GBPCAD |
1.7691 |
1.7753 |
|
NZDUSD |
0.5270 |
0.5296 |
|
GBPZAR |
13.77 |
13.83 |
|
USDZAR |
9.86 |
9.91 |
|
GBPPLN |
4.8344 |
4.8714 |
|
EURJPY |
128.10 |
128.50 |
|
Rates are dependent on amount transacted |
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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.
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