Category: Daily blog

A week of two halves in FX markets

It was a ‘game of two halves’ last week in FX markets, with the dollar in the ascendancy initially before reversing course quite sharply thereafter albeit ending the week little changed overall. The euro and sterling closed out the week at around $1.1565 and $1.3160 against the US currency respectively, well off their intra-week lows […]

Sterling little changed post BoE meeting

The Bank of England MPC left interest rates unchanged at 4%, as largely expected. The vote to do so was extremely tight though – four of the nine Committee members preferred to lower rates by 25bps – and the door is now open to a cut at next month’s meeting. Having dipped briefly following the […]

Dollar touch lower as US stocks rebound

The dollar has given up some ground as US equity markets rebound from a sell-off earlier in the week. The euro is trading at around $1.1510 against the US currency this morning, almost half a cent off its lows yesterday of just under $1.1470. Ahead of the Bank of England MPC’s latest interest rate announcement […]

Dollar remains on the front foot

The dollar gained more ground yesterday amid a slide in equity markets. The euro has dipped below the $1.15 level against the US currency – though it is still around a cent off its second half of the year to date low of just under $1.14 in late July – while sterling has fallen to […]

Sterling a touch softer at the off

There wasn’t a whole lot of movement in FX markets yesterday with the main currency pairs largely in consolidation mode, for now at least. The euro dipped to low of circa $1.15 against the dollar during the course of yesterday’s session but is back up to around $1.1530 this morning. Sterling is a touch weaker […]

Bank of England in spotlight this week

The euro and sterling both lost ground against the dollar last week, shedding around one and two cents respectively (and two and three cents respectively for the month of October), most of this clocked up following Wednesday’s more hawkish than expected Fed meeting. The single currency (at $1.1530) is trading at the bottom end of […]

Dollar remains on the front foot

While the ECB kept interest rates unchanged at 2% yesterday as widely expected, it was the continuing fallout from Wednesday’s more hawkish that expected Fed meeting – which dampened rate cut expectations and boosted the dollar – that drove the price action in FX markets. The euro and sterling fell to fresh post-meeting lows against […]

Dollar slightly firmer post Fed meeting

The Fed cut interest rates by 25bps to 3.75%-4% following yesterday’s meeting, as widely expected. However, Fed Chair Powell caused a stir in markets when he said at the post-meeting conference  that “a further reduction at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion, far from it.” Given that another 25bps cut in December had […]

Sterling at new 2025 low versus euro

Sterling lost ground against both the euro and the dollar during yesterday’s session, which seemed to be related to an FT report suggesting the Chancellor of the Exchequer is facing a larger than expected ‘black hole’ in the UK public finances ahead of her budget next month. The pound is trading at a new 2025 […]

Euro firmer ahead of Fed/ECB meetings

The euro has regained ground against the dollar following Friday’s softer than expected US inflation data and ahead of Fed – expected to cut by 25bps – and ECB – expected to stay on hold again – interest rate announcements tomorrow and Thursday respectively. Positive sentiment in equity markets, fuelled by optimism regarding some sort […]