Bank of England Monetary Policy Remains On Hold - February 10, 2011 18:32

The Bank of England has today announced as expected that monetary policy will remain on hold. Interest rates will stay at 0.5% and Quantitative Easing is to remain at £200Bn. This was widely anticipated by the markets yet was met with volatility. The pound subsequently rallied against the Euro reaching 1.1842 in trade this afternoon. […]

Markets Consolidate Ahead of UK Rate Announcement - February 9, 2011 18:41

Currency markets have consolidated today ahead of the Bank of England’s rate announcement tomorrow at 1200. Markets have scaled back expectations of any imminent increase in rates and expect monetary policy to continue on its current track at least until May. Some more extreme views from analysts at HSBC have put forward a case for […]

UK Interest Rate Expectations Falter - February 8, 2011 19:18

The Pound has suffered today retracing off highs off 1.6160 vs the dollar and 1.1876 vs the Euro. Momentum has shifted towards the downside despite the British Retail Consortium reporting a jump in sales in the UK in January. The RICS house price balance also reported the strongest reading since July indicating a stabilisation in […]

Sterling Jumps on Improved Sentiment - February 7, 2011 18:17

The Pound has made gains today across the majority of the most actively traded currencies. Gains can be attributed to improved sentiment driving the market. For the last couple of weeks the pound has suffered from negative sentiment caused by very poor Q4 GDP figures for 2010. The reversal has however been driven by last […]

Sterling Stages Surprising Recovery - February 3, 2011 18:36

The pound has staged a remarkable recovery this week after very poor Q4 GDP figures released earlier this month. It would appear that traders over did the sterling sell off on fears of a UK double dip recession. This week we have seen a rapid expansion in the CIPS manufacturing index on Tuesday and today […]

US Sets Precedent for Western World? - February 2, 2011 18:35

US Companies added more workers than previously forecasted in payrolls in January. This shows that labour market conditions are improving with employment up by 187,000 jobs according to the ADP employer services. These kind of gains are needed if the Fed’s policy goal to reduce the unemployment rate in the US is to be achieved. […]

FX Markets Driven By Inflation and Sentiment - February 1, 2011 19:08

Markets at the moment are being heavily dominated by monetary policy expectations on interest rates. This is being driven by mounting inflationary pressures seen both in the UK and in the Euro-Zone. Many economists are arguing that the current high inflation levels are short term and that price pressures will decline over the next 6-12 […]

Recovery Ongoing in US Housing Sector - January 27, 2011 18:16

Pending Sales of Existing homes in the US has risen for the 3rd month in a row for the month of December. This shows yet again that the sector that initially triggered the US recession is now stabilising moving forward into 2011.

BoE Member Weale Joins Sentence in Hawkish Stance - January 26, 2011 18:23

Policy maker Andrew Weale decided today to join Andrew Sentence in calling for a quarter point rise in interest rates as officials start to accept that risks to inflation have moved upwards. The BoE minutes stated that most members accept that recent developments have shown that inflation risks in the medium term have augmented.