Attention turned to the jobs market on Friday and volatility increased as one of the worst non-farm jobs fall in post-war US history was released. 533,000 people lost their jobs in November, well above estimates of 350k and with downward revisions also occuring for the September and October figures the labour market paints a fairly ugly picture. Sterling fell against the dollar in the minutes after the announcement as risk aversion increased however has held up well over the weekend.

Friday saw yet another low on GBP/EUR: 1.1455 and looking forward to today data could see the cross trade in a volatile manner. UK PPI is forecast to fall by 6.7% and German industrial production should decline by around -0.2%. 

President Elect Obama has provided stock markets with a shot in the arm over the weekend. Speaking on NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’ Obama announced his decision to not worry about the budget deficit in the short term but instead to focus on dealing with job losses, falling home prices and jammed up credit markets. As a result the FTSE is set to open over 200 points higher.

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.

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

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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