Sterling still friendless | Smart Daily Currency Note

Sterling

Yesterday was a poor day for sterling, we saw a sharp drop in the morning against most of its major peers - reaching a seven-month low against the US dollar. The Bank of England has if anything come the closest of all central banks to acknowledging that a weak pound is part of their overall strategy for recovery and this was reinforced yesterday when one of the members said that sterling might need to weaken further still. Data released showing the change in the asking price of homes for sale was higher than expected helped support sterling, but not enough to regain all the losses from earlier. With little data out today we don't expect to see large swings in sterling's exchange rates, but sterling remains vulnerable due to the fragile state of the British economy so call in now for the latest news and live prices.

Euro

The euro had a fairly positive day yesterday following comments from the ECB’s Governing Council member who said that there was no need to intervene to weaken the euro and that it was in a “normal range” whilst the President of the European Central Bank highlighted that the exchange rate was not a policy target and that inflation was in line with expectations. Out today we have an economic sentiment survey which looks at the relative 6-month economic outlook for Germany and the Eurozone as a whole. Get in touch now for the latest news and an up to the second quote.

US dollar

The US dollar traded in a fairly narrow range yesterday which was down to the US markets being closed for Presidents' Day and therefore trading volumes were low.  It is also very quiet in terms of data coming out of the US today with focus given to the economic sentiment figures released in Europe. All eyes will be on tomorrows Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting minutes as it will be the major influencing factor, as well as inflation data and building permits which are also set to be released. Call in now for the latest update on the US dollars movements.

Worldwide

Elsewhere, the Canadian dollar struggled once more in spite of positive comments from Canadian central bank governor as traders view his sentiment as over optimistic. Today see's the release of foreign securities purchasing data and wholesale trade data. Hopefully there will be positive news for the Canadian economy. Further violence took place at South African mines today which resulted in the South African rand weakening as investors remembered last year's mining problems. The Japanese yen also continues to weaken due to the G20 failing to single out Japan for its recent policies which have promoted yen weakness, and as such it is unlikely to make much difference to the trend of yen depreciation. The minutes from the most recent monetary policy meetings in both Australia and Japan were released overnight and later on this evening we have inflation data out of New Zealand. Call in now for a market update and a live quote.