Sterling still feeling the heat | Smart Daily Currency Note

Sterling

Sterling experienced some movement yesterday, losing some ground against the US dollar during the morning, but largely making good those losses in the afternoon. There was also little overall movement against the euro as data released from Smart Currency partner Rightmove Plc showed that asking prices for UK housing had risen again to a record high. The most imposing event on the horizon for sterling is the publication of the minutes of the Bank of England's most recent policy meeting, which may give traders cause to react as everyone looks to get the measure of Mark Carney. Should it transpire that Carney voted in favour of further quantitative easing then we are likely to see a sharp decline for sterling. In the meantime, today sees the release of Consumer Price Index data, which is the most important indication of the current level of inflation in the UK. Higher than expected inflation may lend some support to sterling ahead of the release of the policy meeting minutes tomorrow, whilst lower figures would have an inverse effect. Call in now for a live rate from your trader and to keep pace with developments.

Euro

Yesterday saw little in the way of influential data emanating from the Eurozone and its performance was largely defined by events elsewhere. Little net movement was seen against sterling or the US dollar by the close of trading in London. Today we can look to German economic sentiment data to impact upon performance as traders looks for signs of optimism from investors and analysts in Europe's largest economy. Today also sees the release of Core Consumer Price Index and trade balance data from the Eurozone, but it is Germany's economic sentiment data that is likely to play the biggest role. Call in now to track its effect and to receive a live rate.

US dollar

The US dollar enjoyed a reasonably strong morning yesterday, making reasonable gains against sterling and euro as a number of key figures made optimistic predictions for the US retail sales data. However, earlier gains were quickly wiped out when the figures revealed less growth than expected. Whilst typical estimates put growth at 0.8%, the figures revealed growth to be slightly lower at 0.4%, underlining the fact that recovery has been less convincing in the second quarter for the US. Commentators expect the US economy to continue its recovery over the coming months, however figures such as yesterday's show that the recovery could be sporadic and any negative data is likely to lend credence to the hesitancy that Fed Chairman Bernanke expressed last week regarding the tapering back of the US bond-buying programme. Thus today's US Core CPI data, giving an indication as to the level of inflation in the world's largest economy, has the potential to cause further movement if figures differ from predictions. Call your trader now to keep pace with developments and to get a live quote.

Worldwide

Elsewhere, the Japanese yen struggled yesterday in part due to the disparity in future monetary policy in Japan versus the US. The Canadian dollar also struggled yesterday alongside falling commodity prices and ahead of the Bank of Canada rate setting meeting on Wednesday. Overnight we saw the Reserve Bank of Australia release the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting and later on today we have manufacturing sales figures released from Canada. Call Smart today for the latest news, and live quotes, for your currency.