February 2011 FX News Archive

Good Morning. Following on from last week, the pound has started this trading session with a difficult few hours that have weighed on sterling’s resolve to buckle under the mounting pressures that we have been experiencing, as other central banks enter the rate increase race. Sterling’s mood was dampened by Friday’s news of a...

The pound fell heavily yesterday across the board as a spike in oil prices drove investors into ‘safer’ currencies and sparked concerns about the impact on an already fragile UK economy. Indeed sterling hit a three week low versus the euro and it may struggle to see any further gains in the short term as the potential interest hike...

The pound has started its day well after yesterday’s comments from MPC member Andrew Sentance talked up sterling when he made reference that supported a rate hike, which would assist sterling as inflation needs to be offset. There was robust economic data also, with British Factory orders improving more than expected in February and...

Good Morning. The pound remained largely unchanged through yesterday’s trading session but we may see that change today with the markets anticipating change. The CPI data is set for release at 09.30 and interest rates or moreover the pressure to raise will no doubt be making policy makers at the Bank of England scratch their heads....

Good Morning. The euro has been in focus over the weekend, as the single currency fell to a three-week low versus the dollar on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of peripheral bond auctions in Spain and Italy this week. The euro fee to $1.3472 against the dollar and tested €1.19 versus sterling, down 0.5% since the close on...

Yesterday saw the Bank of England keep interest rates on hold at 0.5%. Although no-change had been widely expected, markets had priced in a 20% chance of a rate rise. Sterling dipped slightly after the announcement after traders cut their positions. Despite the shock contraction in the UK at the end of last year, expectations of a...

Good Morning. We start the day looking ahead to the Bank of England Policy Meeting, with the market players now warning of downside as expectations of a rate hike throughout 2011 may have been overestimated. We did see a slight increase for sterling but gains were limited as the cloud of today’s noon announcement looms ever nearer....

Sterling was steady against the dollar overnight with expectations of a UK rate hike may be needed soon to counter inflationary pressures offset by selling from Asian accounts. Better than expected UK purchasing manager surveys in January helped to counter negative sentiment surrounding a surprise contraction in growth in the last quarter...

Speculation as to when rather than if the Bank of England will raise interest rates gathered pace, and the support of investors during the early trading session this morning after a report in the Sunday Times fuelled the rumour mill. Sterling rose against both the US Dollar and Euro, hitting a 3 week high on the latter after it was...

The pound is looking to round off the week in a much better position than many market analysts thought following from the contraction in the UK economy by 0.5% according to last week's worrying GDP data. Activity in Britain's dominant services sector expanded at its fastest pace in eight months in January as business recovered after...

Good Morning. We have started today with positive news from the UK as services PMI came in above expectations. This has bolstered the case for higher interest rates in the UK and has pushed the pound towards a strong resistance area of $1.6282. Activity in Britain’s dominant services sector expanded at its fastest pace in eight...

Sterling rallied heavily against both the dollar and euro yesterday as expectations that the Bank of England will now start to raise interest rates by mid-2011 and the general uptick in risk appetite kept the dollar under pressure. Implied interest rate futures based on overnight index swaps were pricing in nearly a 70% chance of a 25...