Sterling strengthened on Friday against the US dollar after much weaker than expected US employment figures saw investors reverse bets against the pound. Sterling had hardly moved earlier in the day when figures showed that UK construction struggled and producer price inflation surged to the highest level since October 2008. There are some key figures out this week – including UK consumer price inflation, unemployment and trade data. With UK inflation at 4.5% in May and most domestic utility companies likely to follow Scottish Power’s lead in hiking tariffs, inflation is likely to top 5% over the summer which is likely to put mounting pressure on the Bank of England to increase rates far sooner than expected. In addition, with the UK economy so reliant on ‘rebalancing’, Tuesday’s trade figures will also be key. Call in now for a live exchange rate.

In the euro zone, the strong surge that the euro saw in the wake of the Greek austerity vote was brought to an abrupt halt last week as credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Portuguese government bonds to ‘junk’ status. This raised the concern of further ‘contagion’ in the region and left investors concerned. Markets will be keeping a close eye on European finance ministers this week and additionally there are the results of European bank ‘stress tests’ this week which could see some significant movement so ensure you protect yourself by speaking to one of the team sooner rather than later.

In the USA, the US dollar plummeted on Friday afternoon as non-farm payroll figures came in woefully under what had been expected. Markets expected the US economy to add in the region of 100,000 private jobs last month, but the actual figure was only 18,000. This week there is important US economic data in the form of US retail sales and US industrial activity data. Retail sales were flat in May and many are expecting both sets of figures to be quite weak. Call in now for a live exchange rate.

Elsewhere, there is a raft of Chinese economic data being released this week. 2nd Quarter GDP is set to show a slight drop in the pace of economic expansion, with markets expecting a fall from 9.7% to 9.1%. Inflation is also expected to rise and so be wary of volatility in the commodity backed currencies as China is the world’s big buyer of commodities. Call in now to protect yourself.

Get a live quote and/or more information from Smart Currency at: http://www.smartinternationaltrade.co.uk/