Today's Currency Market Focus
GBP: Sterling climbs on Brexit hopes
EUR: Euro up despite sag in confidence
USD: Dollar loses its lustre
GBP: Sterling climbs on Brexit hopes
The Pound has continued its comeback this week.
Yesterday the latest UK retail sales figures were well ahead of expectations – more evidence that the UK economy is perking up.
But the bigger news story was Brexit-based. Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington made the astonishing claim that there is a 85-95% chance of getting a deal done with the EU and could be as early as next month.
Of course, that’s just his opinion, but there seems to be some optimism in the air. That may not last if someone in the government now says the complete opposite – something we’ve become accustomed to. With the October and November EU meetings fast approaching, words will need to turn into actions.
EUR: Euro up despite sag in confidence
The Euro recorded a strong session yesterday, trading up nearly 1% against the US Dollar and even overshadowing the rise in the Pound.
It was despite a rather poor reading on EU Consumer Confidence, which came in resoundingly negative.
However, with subsiding fears of global trade wars, the Euro enjoyed a relief rally as it has been hit harder than most.
USD: Dollar loses its lustre
As pre-warned, President Trump went ahead with tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods. The Chinese duly retaliated with tariffs on around $60 billion of US goods. Simple arithmetic shows Trump was the winner of that skirmish.
The tariff rate imposed by the US was 10%. As traders were fearing it would be set at 25%, the news was taken as a positive for US-China relations and as such there was a sell-off in the Dollar (and other safe-haven currencies).
Is that the end of it? Doubt it. Trump has already warned there would be “phase three” if China retaliated and he also has mid-term elections coming up in November – so may want to show the voters who’s boss.
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Current rates:
Friday 21st September 2018 at 13:00
£1.00 GBP = 1.1207 EURO
£1.00 GBP = 1.3181 USD
£1.00 GBP = 1.8094 AUD
£1.00 GBP = 1.9732 NZD
£1.00 GBP = 1.7031 CAD
£1.00 GBP = 18.9494 ZAR
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