Good afternoon,
The pound has opened the new trading week in a worse position than at the close last week, continuing the slide against the US dollar throughout Asian trading hours and into the European open. The total loss against the dollar is around 2.2% at the time of writing, with little to be excited about to push the rate back towards the 1.30 mark. Despite stabilising so far this morning, GBP/EUR lost well over 1% to sit in the 1.18’s.
Yesterday, voters in France hit the polls to give Emmanuel Macron another 5 years of presidency. Overcoming far right challenger Marine Le Pen, Macron took over a 58% share of the votes, more than anticipated before the polls opened. Despite the concrete result, the euro has been little effected by the results.
The economic calendar offers little to support GBP this week, so any upside momentum will likely come from poor readings elsewhere. Whilst the pound continues to slide the UK also faces political turmoil with the “partygate” scandal continuing to play out in Parliament. After being issued a fine, it has become the first recorded time in history that a sitting Prime Minister has been found to have broken the law. Should the Prime Minister be removed from his post, the pound could see further losses due to the instability in the country.
Have a great day.
Author: Jack Nicholls, Senior Relationship Manager.
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