Archive for May, 2010

A messy zigzag trading pattern took the pound three cents higher on the week with frequent changes of direction that saw a low of SFr1.63 and a high of nearly SFr1.68. It opened this morning in London at SFr1.67. None of the Swiss economic indicators was enough to do any real good or damage...
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The single currency continues to be weighed down by concerns about sovereign debt across the Euro zone, as well as the health of the European banking system. The US dollar is also gaining support from concerns about rising tensions in South and North Korea as “sabre rattling” by the North Koreans sends investors defensive. The UK...
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Monday night’s ill conceived decision by the German authorities to act unilaterally with respect to a short selling ban sent the Euro to its lowest levels since April 2006 yesterday, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel played party politics with the financial markets in an attempt to rally support for the euro bailout package which...
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The US Dollar prospers as nervous investors shun the euro. During the first part of the week sterling wandered aimlessly but by Thursday it began a more considered decline and by yesterday morning it is close to its lowest level in more than a year. Following the previous week’s general election political worries about sterling were...
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US dollar and yen prosper as nervous investors shun the euro and ‘risky’ currencies. For most of the week the pound wandered between ¥136 and ¥140. On Thursday it set off lower. In the Far East this morning it touched a base of ¥131 before recovering slightly to open in London at ¥133. Financial...
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Equity markets have had a rather more subdued day start to this week than they did to the last and have actually managed to post some pretty solid gains as the session has moved on. However this doesn’t mean that we are totally out of the woods in terms of market volatility goes. Currencies have...
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Gold prices continued to surge today hitting all time highs against the Euro at €1,000 and nearly $1,250 against the US dollar. Against this backdrop equity markets have continued their slides from yesterday evening’s late plunge in the US. There remains a real concern that as a result of the conditions of the European...
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It was a rather more exciting week for sterling than investors might have wished. It never had a second chance to visit Tuesday’s ¥144.50 starting point, edging down to ¥141 over the next couple of days and plunging to ¥130 on Friday. Sterling rebounded to ¥138 then fell back to ¥135 before...
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So the day has finally arrived, after nearly 6 days of haggling the UK has a new Prime Minister and a new government. The pound initially rallied on the news, but has since slipped back on fears that attempting to agree on measures to tackle the deficit may struggle to overcome ideological and party...
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The pound enjoyed a late surge in afternoon trading as it was confirmed that talks had broken down between Labour and the Liberal Democrats had broken down, thus torpedoing Labour hopes of a “rainbow coalition”. Reports that Gordon Brown was in the process of stepping down with immediate effect also boosted the pound on the...
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