Sterling strengthened against the US dollar on Thursday after U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne rebuffed opposition demands to review spending cuts. In a turbulent week that has seen wide swings up and down on the stock markets and the Bank of England cut the UK’s growth forecast, sterling gained on Thursday as the coalition stood by its austerity measures. Widespread rioting and looting had some impact earlier in the week, seeing sterling slip as investors questioned the UK’s new found safe haven status in the face of widespread destruction. However, this was soon brought under control and sterling recovered ground towards the end of the week. Call in now for a live price.

In the euro zone, the euro gained against the Swiss franc on Thursday, surging 6%, boosted by talk that the Swiss currency could be pegged against the euro. This week we have seen the ECB taking action to stabilise bond markets by purchasing Italian and Spanish bonds and this seems to have calmed bond markets to an extent. In France, speculation was rife this week that the country would suffer a credit rating downgrade given the country’s exposure to Greek debt. In addition, 4 countries in the euro zone announced a ban on short selling in the stock markets in an attempt to calm the huge volatility. Call in now for a live exchange rate.

In the USA, stocks rose again on Thursday following the worst plunge since the bull market began in 2009, as an unexpected drop in jobless claims slowed concern that the world’s biggest economy is slowing. US jobs claims for unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 to the lowest level since early April. The US dollar and euro both gained against the Swiss franc as the Swiss central bank said it could ease monetary policy further. Out today there is retail sales data so call in now for a live price.

Elsewhere, the commodity currencies have come under a little pressure in the last week as investors pull out of riskier investments given the market turmoil. One major beneficiary has been sterling, which surged to the highest level against the South African rand since late February this week. Australian unemployment jumped to 5.1% in July from 4.9 percent a month earlier. Thursday saw the New Zealand dollar after prices of commodities gained. Call in now for a live exchange rate.

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