Sterling suffering badly as temperatures soar | Smart Daily Currency Note

Sterling

A very tough end to the week for sterling, struggling as the US dollar stole the limelight. An ailing sterling dropped below 1.49 and 1.16 against the US dollar and euro respectively on Friday and after a fantastic weekend for British sport, we will have to see how the British currency fairs through the course of this week. The next five days is devoid of data from the UK save for manufacturing production figures released on Tuesday. Given the strength of the manufacturing figures released last week, we anticipate good news. Whether that will be enough to give sterling a helping hand to find some strength again remains to be seen. Get in touch for the latest news and up to the second rates for sterling.

Euro

The euro had a mixed end to last week; comments made by the European Central Bank President on Thursday after the interest rate decision lead to the euro hitting five week lows against the US dollar, but against an even weaker sterling the euro managed gains of 0.3% on Friday. Today, the President of the ECB speaks again, markets will be volatile as traders look for further evidence of forward guidance and openly interventionist policy. Today we also see the release of German trade balance figures, and on Wednesday we have industrial production data coming out of France and Italy. Call today for the latest news, and live rates for euro.

US dollar

The US dollar soared on Friday, gaining a cent as employment data beat expectations. Markets saw this as a sign that the times are indeed ripe for tapering down loose monetary policy, and drove dollar to below 1.49 against sterling. This week the excitement continues - while the first half of the week is quiet for data, expect volatility to remain as traders place their bets ahead of the release of the minutes from this month's FOMC meeting on Wednesday. Committee Chairman Bernanke speaks as well, and markets will hope that together they clear up speculation over the end of quantitative easing. More employment figures are released on Thursday, and inflation numbers on Friday so the question is; can the US dollar hold on - will it stay below 1.50? Call your trader now to find out.

Worldwide

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar weakened on Friday after both performing reasonably well earlier in the week. Looking ahead to this week, business confidence data coming from New Zealand on the Monday is likely to affect its currency's performance whilst the Australian Dollar will rise or fall on the back of Wednesday's consumer sentiment data and Friday's employment data. The Indian Rupee also fared poorly at the end of last week as did Chinese Renminbi. This was due to a number of factors including continuing US dollar strength and signs that growth in the Chinese economy is slowing down. Some commentators have suggested that we can expect further weakness in the Asian currencies as soon as the imminently-expected scaling back of US bond-buying occurs. Call in now to stay on top of the markets and for live rates from your trader.