January 2011 FX News Archive

Focus for Sterling this week will be whether the pound can find some stability as concerns about a fragile UK economy as a negative technical picture weighed on sentiment against the pound last week. Sterling steadied against the euro on Friday, but slipped back against a firmer dollar in this trade as worries over rising civil unrest in...

Sterling found some support yesterday, drawing from expectations that the Bank of England could raise interest rates by mid-year and underpinned by broader dollar weakness. The pound found support after minutes of the BoE January meeting on Wednesday showed that policymaker Martin Weale joined Andrew Sentance in voting for a 25 basis...

Sterling fell heavily, across a broad basket of currencies yesterday after one of the biggest shocks in the economic downturn crippled the pound. The UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the final three months of last year , marking the first fall in output in output since Q3 2009. Market that had been expecting growth of 0.4%, with the...

This morning sees the release of the Q4 Gross Domestic Product figure from the UK and Sterling starts the day already on the back foot. Yesterday and overnight we saw the pound fall sharply against the firm euro on an increasingly hawkish outlook for euro zone interest rates and questionable growing expectations for the UK economy...

We begin Monday looking ahead into the week with plenty of data that should set the tone as to how the pound favours over the next five days. Following on from last week, Sterling eased against the dollar on Monday, as traders took profits after the UK currency scaled two-months highs last week on nagging doubts about whether Britain’s...

The pound has fallen back against the US Dollar and the euro after the green back rallied on strong US housing numbers and some real money accounts reallocated funds away from the pound to the single currency. Sterling was feeling the pressure also from mixed UK industrial trends survey that highlighted the dilemma facing Bank of England...

The pound lost some ground against the broadly firmer euro yesterday as the single currency was buoyed by growing hopes that the European Central Bank policymakers will be able to navigate their way through the sovereign debt crisis. Sterling also dropped from near 2 month highs against the dollar as investors took profit on long...

Sterling rose against a subdued US Dollar on Wednesday, trading close to an eight-week high on the back of growing expectations of higher interest rates and steady buying by Asian central banks. The pound has now gained nearly 2% in January as investors continue to price in expectations that the UK interest rates will rise before those in...

Sterling has risen to an eight-week high against the US Dollar overnight, buoyed by improving UK consumer confidence and expectations that stubbornly high inflation may force a rate hike towards the middle of the year. British consumer price inflation will be released at 9.30AM. It has reached a six-money high of 3.3% in November and is...

The euro has come back fighting in the second half of this week, which has shocked market watchers after yesterday’s solid Spanish debt auction and comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet that the euro zone faces short-term inflationary pressures added fuel to a short-covering rally in the euro, against most notably...

Yesterday’s strong bond auction for Portugal has calmed the markets after the promise of support that Japan and China was proven as good demand for their debt shored up the single currency. Support for Europe through its fiscal crisis have also helped to keep the euro around $1.31 and the closeout of small bets against the euro could...

The risk of Portugal following the lead of Greece and Ireland has been the cause of much speculation for the last week, with today being the day when they will likely decide whether to follow the lead of other nations and approach the EU and IMF and ask for a bail-out. Portugal will go to the markets for up to €1.25 billion with a...

The pound moved up to a near four-month high versus the struggling euro overnight as sovereign funding worries continued to undermine the single currency, with market watchers saying that sterling could be poised for more gains. The euro remained on the back foot with the focus on whether Portugal will be able to raise the funds in the...

Markets have started the week some what slower than how they finished after last week amazingly erratic showing. On Friday, despite the disappointing non-farm payrolls report, the payroll rose by 103’000 compared to expectations for a rise of 175’000, the dollar remained to dominate the euro as despite the report it was supported by...

Focus today falls firmly on the already strong US Dollar as it is expected that the US employment probably picked up in December which will raise the odds that we will see significant strength in the world’s largest economy throughout 2011, as the Non-Farm Payrolls is announced later today. This follows much better than expected ADP...

Eurozone sovereign debt continues to give markets cause for concern with confidence remaining shaky as the New Year begins to take shape. The euro remains under pressure versus other majors, drifting lower against the US Dollar and Sterling through yesterday’s trading session and overnight. Falling to a low of $1.3127, with GBP-EUR...

Sterling rounded off a good day yesterday with relatively muted overnight session, in preparation for a rare quiet data release day in the UK today. Data released yesterday afternoon showed that US factory orders rose unexpectedly in November, growing by their highest level for eight months. Meanwhile the minutes of the December Federal...

The Pound has performed very well today following stronger than expected UK manufacturing data for the last quarter of 2010. This is welcome news for anyone looking to convert sterling into other currencies, following the pound’s weakness over the Christmas period. December’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), a monthly gauge of...