Fresh worries over the state of the US financial sector halted the dollar’s recent surge yesterday. An article in the FT yesterday stated that Lehman Brothers had been unable to agree a price with a Korean and Chinese joint bidder for 50% of the Wall St. Bank. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw their share price fall yesterday as fears of a government bailout increased, further pressurising the greenback.

Oil markets have taken a bit of a back seat recently but the price of a barrel of crude jumped to a 3 week high yesterday. Geopolitical tensions stemming from Russia’s decision to quit cooperation with NATO were blamed alongside a forecasted drop in Saudi production due to the tumbling price. Growth prospects for the US took a knock as a result.

News out of Europe was little better as the influential PMI release showed that the 15 member area is on the cusp of a recession. Good news was found however in the inflation analysis release that showed that prices across the Eurozone were falling; speculations of a rate cut by the ECB in the near future may not be overly hasty.

Today is fairly quiet on the data front however Fed Chair Ben Bernanke is due to speak at 15.00 BST and could provide dollar with some volatility by the end of the day.

From all at World First have a great Bank Holiday weekend.

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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.