Currency Insights

BOE Governor hawkish on interest rates

In a speech delivered on Monday, the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, made it clear that he believes it will be very tough to bring UK inflation down to the bank's target of 2%. He suggested UK interest rates would need to remain high for most if not all of 2024.

BOE happy inflation is correcting

Blogs

The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey has stated that UK inflation is starting to correct. He said recent figures are good news and reflect the unwinding of external inflationary pressures.

GBPUSD edges higher on US holiday

Blogs

ou may not have noticed it; after all, it has barely been mentioned on TV or the Internet, but yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in the US and today is the curiously named Black Friday. I saw a quote yesterday about how ironic it is that America has a day to give thanks for everything they have and then a day to blitz money on new stuff.

UK Chancellor lifts growth forecast and cuts some taxes

Blogs

The UK chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his autumn statement yesterday. There was the expected smattering of tax cuts, some tinkering with allowances and an increase in the chancellor's forecast for UK growth to 0.7% in this financial year.

GBP quiet ahead of the autumn statement

Blogs

A quiet week thus far largely anticipating today's Autumn economic statement from the chancellor. Jeremy Hunt is widely expected to announce over 100 measures designed to try and ‘turbocharge’ Britain’s stagnant economy and see the much-desired growth.

British pound and euro currency notes with medicine pack

Sterling trending upwards against USD

Blogs

The move above 1.2500 versus the USD this morning is the key for sterling as it attempts to continue its good trend for a third day in a row. Additionally, the pair reached its highest point in the previous two months, and the technical indicators point to an upward trend.

General election policies – what do voters want

Blogs

All eyes this week turn to the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt ahead of the autumn statement. With the election looming within the next 12 months or so, battle lines are being drawn on what policies will drive voters to tick their box. Many rumours circulating that tax cuts will be the main giveaway, in a bid to bring the voters back to the blue side.

Sterling slips on poor retail sales

Blogs

UK retail sales volumes fell to their lowest ebb since February 2021 in October. The 2.7% drop in the headline annual rate and the 2.4% fall in the core calculation were much worse than the markets had forecast. Surprisingly, the pound only slipped a little but it has had a poor week anyway. Having spiked above $1.25 on Tuesday...

Packed data diary keeps US traders edgy

Blogs

Yesterday's release of US retail sales and producer prices delivered marginal improvements in a number of areas. That was enough to pull some US dollar buyers into the market but not enough to see any substantial rally. The GBP/USD rate starts today slightly lower at $1.2380 ahead of a stacked US data diary this afternoon.

Improved employment data boosts GBP

Blogs

There were some positive surprises in this morning's UK employment data. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2%, when the markets had expected a rise. The markets had also estimated a fall of nearly 200,000 jobs in the three months to September, whereas the economy actually created 54,000 new roles.

GBP fails to launch on improved GDP

Blogs

Even though Friday’s UK GDP data was better than expected across the board, Sterling is still in the doldrums. Economic growth in the month of September was 0.2%, bringing the annualised growth up to 0.6% when the markets had expected 0.5%, and in the three months to September, the economy produced zero growth, which was better than the market forecast of a contraction of 0.1%.

Real estate agent giving keys to apartment owner, buying selling property business. Close up of male hand taking house key from realtor. Mortgage for purchasing flat, getting access to own home after a real estate investment

GBP static despite minor improvement in RICS survey

Blogs

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors publish an house price balance every month. It measures the percentage of their members who see UK house prices rising compared to those who see them falling. When that was released this morning it delivered a minus 63% reading.